Research Faculty #33
General Information
Research Associate 2014-2016, UBC
Founding and Managing Editor, Evolutionary Applications, 2007-2013
Postdoctoral Fellow 2006-2008, UBC
Ph.D. 2005, Indiana University, USA
Tseng Lab website: http://michelletseng.weebly.com/index.html
Contact Information
Research Information
We investigate processes that underlie population and community responses to changing environments. Our current focus is on understanding and predicting community-wide responses to warming. We develop and test broad conceptual frameworks using laboratory and field experiments with insects and plankton communities.
- Predicting community-wide responses to warming;
- Adaptation of Arctic zooplankton to shrinking lakes;
- Thermal reaction norm evolution, and how reaction norm shape affects evolutionary adaptation to warming;
- Ecological consequences of temperature-mediated shifts in plankton nutritional profiles and organism body size
- Industry collaborations for discovering & refining high-value compounds in aquatic primary producers (e.g. algae & duckweed proteins & fatty acids)
Carla Di Filippo - MSc Student (botany)
Natasha Klasios - MSc Student (zoology)
Madeline Fung - NSERC USRA/Co-op Student
Markus Thormeyer - Work Learn student
Chris Ernst - Hakai Postdoctoral Fellow
I am recruiting one PhD student to start September 2020. I am particularly keen to work with students who are fascinated with freshwater aquatic plankton & insects, and who are interested in bridging community ecology with evolutionary ecology. All students will need to have at least some fellowship/scholarship support. Please email me if you'd like to explore grad school options with me.
Selected Publications
*denotes undergraduate co-authors
Tseng, M. E. Yangel*, and A. Zhou*. 2019. Herbivory alters thermal responses of algae. Journal of Plankton Research. Accepted.
Tseng, M, J.R. Bernhardt, and A.E. Chila*. 2019. Species interactions mediate thermal evolution. Evolutionary Applications. DOI: 10.1111/eva.12805
Tseng, M. and S. Soleimani Pari*. 2019. Body size explains interspecific variation in latitude-size relationships in geographically widespread beetle species. Ecological Entomology. DOI: 10.1111/een.12684
Tseng, M., K. M. Kaur*, S. Soleimani Pari*, K. Sarai, D. Chan, C.H. Yao, P. Porto, A. Toor, H.S. Toor, and K. Fograscher. 2018. Decreases in beetle body size linked to climate change and warming temperatures. Journal of Animal Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12789 *co-second author, (all co-authors were UBC undergrads from Biol411).
Tseng M. 2017. The effect of parasitism and interpopulation hybridization on Aedes albopictus fitness. Journal of Medical Entomology. 54(5):1236-1242
Tseng M., and M. I. O’Connor. 2015. Predators modify the evolutionary response of prey to temperature change. Biology Letters. 11: 20150798