2025 Internship Project Overview

We investigated the relationship between Linum lewisii (Lewis flax) and Melampsora lini (rust) in Colorado using epidemiological and evolutionary perspectives to understand how this unique plant pathogen system is changing. Past work shows that disease varies with elevation and our data collection aims to understand the environmental factors that drive this pattern. In addition to collecting weekly epidemiologic data from our 12 permanent sites, we employed a common garden experiment to study if the disease varied based on the genetics of the flax at different elevations or the differing conditions which flax experiences at different elevations. Researching Lewis flax’s resistance patterns offers insight into how plants might adapt to climate change. This can be further extrapolated through its close relationship to agricultural flax. As climate change alters global food production, understanding genetic resistance patterns to help cultivate more resistant and hardy plants will become increasingly more important.

This internship is connected to the HMEI Water Grand Challenges project, “Does Hydrology Drive Pathogen Impact on Plant Health? Beyond the Drought Paradigm.”

 

 

ORGANIZATION/RESEARCH GROUP

Metcalf Lab, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University

LOCATION

Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gothic, Colorado

 

Interns

Lucy Carlin ’28
Major: Undecided
Minor(s): Chinese, Environmental Science
"Against the beautiful backdrop of the Colorado Rockies, I experienced my first taste of the rigor, problem solving, and creativity that goes into the type of field work I hope to pursue. On a broader scale, I hope to connect this to building a more sustainable relationship between humans and the planet."
Mckenna Crocker ’28
Major: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Minor(s): Sustainable Energy
"This internship deepened my appreciation for fieldwork, agriculture, and the complex relationships between plants and pathogens. This experience solidified my understanding of the agriculture industry's importance and inspired me to help address the problems it will encounter moving forward."

Click to view the end-of-project presentation

 

C. Jessica Metcalf
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs, Princeton University

Mentors

  • Amanda Gibson, Associate Professor of Biology, University of Virginia
  • Juliana Jiranek, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Virginia