Researchers from UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences have been recognized with one of the Ecological Society of America’s top honors in plant ecology and environmental science.

Congratulations to Jill Anderson in genetics and the Odum School of Ecology, Megan DeMarche in plant biology, recent plant biology Ph.D. graduate Derek Denney, and their collaborators on receiving the 2026 W.S. Cooper Award from the Ecological Society of America. The award recognizes an outstanding publication in geobotany, physiographic ecology, plant succession, or the study of plant distributions across environmental gradients.

Their research examined how plants adapt to changing climates across mountain environments using more than 100,000 seeds and seedlings collected from 115 populations of Boechera stricta. The study found that climate change is already disrupting long-standing patterns of local adaptation and suggests that some plant populations may require assisted migration to persist under future warming conditions.

This recognition highlights the strength of multidisciplinary environmental research at UGA and the important contributions Franklin researchers are making to understanding biodiversity, adaptation, and climate resilience.

Read more..