{"id":7308,"date":"2026-10-20T03:20:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T03:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chapters.cnps.org\/oc\/?p=7308"},"modified":"2026-10-20T03:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T03:20:32","slug":"2026-december-10th-2026-oneill-grant-recipients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chapters.cnps.org\/oc\/2026\/10\/20\/2026-december-10th-2026-oneill-grant-recipients\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 December 10th – 2026 O\u2019Neill Grant Recipients"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Ava Joseph & Joaquin Lopez Jr.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Date:<\/strong> Thursday, December 10, 2026<\/p>\n

Time:<\/strong> Pre-chat begins at 6:45 p.m.;
\npresentations begin at 7:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Location:<\/strong> Zoom only<\/p>\n


\nRegister for the Zoom Presentation
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Ava Joseph<\/h3>\n

Presenter Bio<\/h4>\n

Ava is a second-year Ph.D. student at CalBG\/Claremont Graduate
\nUniversity. She received a B.S. in Genetics & Plant Biology
\nfrom UC Berkeley, where her work at the botanical garden and
\nherbaria fostered an interest in systematics and evolution.
\nAva is studying the evolutionary history of two sections of
\nAstragalus<\/em> (milkvetches), with the goals of clarifying
\nrelationships in this large and complicated genus and understanding
\nmontane and alpine species diversification. She hopes this research
\nwill provide a replicable workflow for future phylogenetic studies
\non Astragalus<\/em> and inform conservation of vulnerable alpine
\npopulations.<\/p>\n

Presentation Title<\/h4>\n

Montane and Alpine Diversification in a Mega-Genus:
\nA Systematic and Biogeographical Study of Western North American
\nAstragalus<\/em><\/p>\n

Presentation Description<\/h4>\n

Astragalus<\/em> is the largest plant genus in the world, with
\nover 3,200 currently recognized species! Western North America is
\na hotspot of Astragalus<\/em> diversity, yet the evolutionary
\nrelationships here remain largely a mystery. Ava\u2019s research focuses
\non a subset of taxa (species and varieties) from two sections:
\nCusickiani and Ervoidei. These taxa occur in the Sierra Nevada,
\nGreat Basin, and Rocky Mountains.<\/p>\n

In the Southern California Transverse Ranges,
\nAstragalus whitneyi<\/em> var. whitneyi<\/em> and
\nA. filipes<\/em> are separated by a significant distance from
\ntheir next nearest populations in the Sierra Nevada. These
\ninteresting distributions allow Ava to explore the biogeographic
\nhistory of these plants and test hypotheses about their origins.
\nAva aims to advance our understanding of montane and alpine
\nAstragalus<\/em> diversity in western North America.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Joaquin Lopez Jr.<\/h3>\n

Presenter Bio<\/h4>\n

Joaquin Lopez is a third-year Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
\nPh.D. student at UCI in the Maria Rebolleda-Gomez Lab. Joaquin is
\ninterested in microbial community assembly and how processes such
\nas selection from host traits, species interactions, and
\nenvironmental conditions shape host-associated microbiomes.<\/p>\n

Joaquin\u2019s research focuses on natural variation in
\nBrassica nigra<\/em> defense chemistry. He also uses
\ncomplementary bottom-up and top-down approaches to microbial
\ncommunity assembly, including synthetic communities and directed
\nevolution with bacteria derived from B. nigra<\/em> rhizospheres,
\nto investigate how microbial communities form and how their
\ncomposition influences plant traits.<\/p>\n

Presentation Title<\/h4>\n

Synthetic Microbial Communities Shape Arabidopsis<\/em>
\nLife History Across Abiotic Stress<\/p>\n

Presentation Description<\/h4>\n

Microbial communities influence plant phenotypes by shaping
\nprocesses such as nutrient acquisition and stress response.
\nBy altering the costs and benefits of resource allocation, they
\nare likely to impact life history traits, including growth rate,
\nreproductive timing, and overall fitness. Yet the specific taxa
\nand interactions underlying these shifts remain poorly understood,
\nespecially under environmental stress. Here, we examine
\nmicrobiome-driven shifts in Arabidopsis thaliana<\/em>
\ndevelopment under abiotic stress using a synthetic community
\n(SynCom), isolating the effects of individual microbial taxa.<\/p>\n

Guided by the stress gradient hypothesis, we predict stronger
\nmicrobial effects on host performance as stress increases.
\nWe tested this by inoculating seedlings with (i) monocultures of
\neight bacterial isolates cultured from Brassica nigra<\/em>
\nrhizospheres, (ii) a co-culture of all eight isolates, and
\n(iii) a series of dropout combinations to quantify isolate
\ncontributions and higher-order interactions. Plants were
\nphenotyped across early development, allowing for a direct
\ncomparison of microbial effects on development under salinity
\nstress.<\/p>\n

In parallel, we characterize bacterial growth responses across a
\nsalinity gradient in vitro to determine how individual isolates
\nand microbial communities respond directly to environmental
\nstress. Together, these experiments will help identify microbial
\ncommunities with distinct effects on plant development, guiding
\ntheir selection for future life-history assays.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Ava Joseph & Joaquin Lopez Jr. Date: Thursday, December 10, 2026 Time: Pre-chat begins at 6:45 p.m.; presentations begin at 7:00 p.m. Location: Zoom only Register for the Zoom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n2026 December 10th - 2026 O\u2019Neill Grant Recipients - Orange County Chapter - CNPS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chapters.cnps.org\/oc\/2026\/10\/20\/2026-december-10th-2026-oneill-grant-recipients\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2026 December 10th - 2026 O\u2019Neill Grant Recipients - Orange County Chapter - CNPS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Ava Joseph & Joaquin Lopez Jr. Date: Thursday, December 10, 2026 Time: Pre-chat begins at 6:45 p.m.; 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