Justen B. Whittall  

Assistant Professor

Biology Department

Santa Clara University 


The central goal of my research program is to understand adaptation and speciation in plants.

Welcome to Justen's Plant Evolution Lab!

Choose a topic from the links on the left to learn more about my lab's research, my teaching and some helpful links.


Recent Happenings

NSF has funded a multi-year study of flower color evolution and genomic constraints in Arctic mustards that I proposed with Matt Carlson (University of Alaska Anchorage).


We'll be comparing pollinator and non-pollinator agents of selection on flower color polymorphisms in a pair of Arctic mustards along a transect from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay! Have a look at the brief project summary if you're interested in what we're up to in Alaska and back in the lab at SCU. 

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Metcalf Jewelflower Conservation Genomics Project Funded!

I am investigating the niche breadth, reproductive biology, and genomic uniqueness of the serpentine endemic Metcalf Jewelflower (Streptanthus albidus ssp. albidus) with Co-PIs Sharon Strauss (UC Davis) and Jessica Wright (US Forest Service).

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My paper with Scott Hodges on directional patterns of nectar spur evolution in columbines recently appeared in Nature. See my Press page for more details.