Mariana Susana Hernández-Leal
Mariana’s research focuses on the genetic diversity and evolutionary response of riparian and wetland plants to environmental change. She is interested in how environment and landscape features affect gene flow and population genetic structure in these dynamic ecosystems. She uses molecular biology and physiological tools to probe these processes. Her broader areas of interest include evolution, population genomics, biogeography, phylogeography, ecophysiology and landscape genetics. During her PhD, she focused on elucidating how altitude and salinity gradients alter gene flow patterns among populations of the tropical willow Salix humboldtiana. Currently, she works as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota, exploring the correlation between genetic and spectral diversity in tree species.
Mariana Susana Hernandez-Leal