TESS GRAINGER (she/her)
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor
Department of Integrative Biology
University of Guelph
tess.grainger@uoguelph.ca
I joined the University of Guelph as an Assistant Professor in 2023. Before that I was a postdoc at UBC, where I conducted experiments with flour beetles testing the effect of temperature on species’ ability to adapt to degraded environments. Prior to that I was a postdoc at Princeton, where I used field experiments with fruit flies to understand species’ rapid evolutionary responses to competition and climate. I completed my PhD at the University of Toronto, where I used the insects that specialize on milkweed plants to look at the effects of climate change on species that live in patchy habitats.
GRAD STUDENTS
SYDNEY CHONG-KING (she/her)
MSc
Sydney is conducting experiments with flour beetles that investigate the effect of adaptation to temperature on competitive ability.
KATE ROBINSON (she/her)
MSc
Kate is conducing field experiments with milkweed insects that test the combined effects of temperature and predation on dispersal behaviour.
SAV EDWARDS (she/they)
MSc
Sav is conducting experiments with flour beetles that test the effect of temperature on competition and coexistence.
UNDERGRADS
TARESA FOSTER (she/they)
NSERC USRA
Taresa is conducting experiments with flour beetles looking at how past adaptation to temperature affects a population’s response to heatwaves.
CAITLIN BARTON (she/her)
4th year thesis project
Caitlin is conducting experiments with flour beetles that test the effect of competition on adaptation to degraded environments.
FORMER LAB MEMBERS
LAINA WEISS
2024-2025
Undergraduate research project
Current position: MSc in Conservation Biology at the University of Cape Town
Project: An experimental test of the effects of temperature and resource quality on carrying capacity.
KAYLEY BRESLIN
2024-2025
NSERC USRA
Current position: Ontario Parks, then MSc at the University of Calgary
Project: Warming speeds up range expansion in an insect model system.
EMMA GRUNTZ
2024-2025
4th year thesis project
Current position: finishing BSc at U of G
Project: Persistent effects of heatwave duration on population dynamics.
ANIK CHHOKER
2024-2025
Work study student
Current position: MSc at the University of Guelph
NICOLE BYRNE
2024
Work study student
Current position: Municipality of Halton Hills
THE GRAINGER LAB 