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.
HANNAH MACNEIL
MSc (starting Sept 2026)
Hannah will be conducting experiments with flour beetles that test factors that affect the likehihood of evolutionary rescue.
UNDERGRADS
CATHERINE WANG (she/her)
NSERC USRA
Catherine is testing theory on the interactive effects of resources and temperature on population dynamics.
FORMER LAB MEMBERS
TARESA FOSTER (she/they)
2025-2026
Undergraduate thesis
Current position: research technician with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
Project: Heatwave eliminates the benefits of adaptation to temperature in an experimental model system (in review).
CAITLIN BARTON (she/her)
2025-2026
Undergraduate thesis
Current position: starting an MSc at the University of British Columbia
Project: The effect of competition on evolutionary rescue.
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
Undergraduate thesis
Current position: finishing BSc at U of G
Project: Persistent effects of heatwave duration on population dynamics (in revision).
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 