I conduct research to understand how the distributions and local abundances of species change as a result of interacting ecological and evolutionary processes. My research advances the fields of ecology and evolution, and answers critical questions about how species will respond to major global environmental changes, including climate change, habitat destruction, and biological invasions. At its core, my research program is working toward a process-based understanding of the conservation and management of threatened and invasive species. My current projects include work on the effects of evolution and landscape structure on how quickly spatial locations of species can move, and how life histories of plants (e.g. size at flowering) evolve under changing climates.

2024

Smith, M.D. Wilkins, K.D…Williams, J.L. Wolf, A.A. Zeiter, M. Zhang, F. Zhu, J. Zong, N. and X. Zuo. 2024. Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 121 (4). doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2309881120

2023

Nikkel, E.K. Clements, D.R. Anderson, D. and J. L. Williams. 2023. Regional habitat suitability for aquatic and terrestrial invasive plant species may expand or contract with climate change. Biological Invasions 25: 3805- 3822. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-023-03139-8

Moerman, F., Lustenhouwer, N. Altermatt, F. Bassar, R. Bocedi, G. Bonte, D. Dey, S. Fronhofer, E. A. Garcez de Rocha, E. Giometto, A. Lancaster, L. Prather Jr., R. Saastamoinen, M. Travis, J. Urquhart, C. Weiss–Lehman, C. Williams, J. L. Börger, L. and D. Berger. 2023. Experimental evolution of dispersal: unifying theory, experiments and natural systems. Journal of Animal Ecology (in press).

Williams, J. L. and E. M. West. 2023. Implications of climate change for biocontrol efficacy across the northern range of the invasive plant Linaria dalmatica. Biological Control 179: 105174.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2023.105174

Smith, L. J. and J. L. Williams. 2023. Plant and herbivorous insect communities respond in complex ways to rainfall manipulation in an oak savanna grassland. Journal of Ecology 111: 655–665. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365–2745.14053

2021

Urquhart, C. A. and J. L. Williams. 2021. Trait correlations and landscape fragmentation jointly alter expansion speed via evolution at the leading edge in simulated range expansions. Theoretical Ecology doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-021-00503-z

Srivastava, D. S. Coristine, L. Angert, A. L. Bontrager, M. Amundrud, S. L. Williams, J. L. Yeung, A. C. Y. De Zwaan, D. R., Thompson, P. L., Aitken, S. N., Sunday, J. M., O’Connor, M. I., Whitton, J., Brown, N. E. M., MacLeod, C. D., Parfrey, L. W., Bernhardt, J. R., Carrillo, J., Harley, C. D. G., Martone, P. T., Freeman, B. G., Tseng, M., and S. D. Donner. 2021. Wildcards in climate change biology. Ecological Monographs 91 ( 4). doi: 10.1002/ecm.1471

2020

Duncan, S. S. and J. L. Williams. 2020. Life history variation in an invasive plant is associated with climate and recent colonization of a specialist herbivore’ American Journal of Botany 107(10): 1366-1374. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1531

Johnson, J. C. and J. L. Williams. 2020. A native annual forb locally excludes a closely related introduced species that co-occurs in oak-savanna habitat remnants. AoB PLANTS 12 (5). doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plaa045

Miller, T. E. X. Angert, A. L. Brown, C. D. Lee-Yaw, J. A. Lewis, M. Lutscher, F. Marculis, N. G. Melbournes, B. A. Shaw, A. K. Szücs, M. Tabares, O., Usui, T. Weiss-Lehman, C. and J. L. Williams, J. L. 2020. Eco-evolutionary dynamics of range expansion. Ecology 101 (10). doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3139

2019

Iler, A. M. Compagnoni, A. Inouye, D. W. Williams, J. L. Caradonna, P. J. Anderson, A. and T. E. X. MilleR. 2019. Reproductive losses due to climate change‐induced earlier flowering are not the primary threat to plant population viability in a perennial herb. Journal of Ecology 107(4): 1931-1943. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13146

Williams, J. L. Hufbauer, R. A. and Miller, T. E. X. 2019. How Evolution Modifies the Variability of Range Expansion. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 34(10): 903-913. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2019.05.012

Iler, A. M., Compagnoni, A., Inouye, D. W., Williams, J. L., Caradonna, P. J., Anderson, A. and T. E. X. Miller. 2019. Reproductive losses due to climate change‐induced earlier flowering are not the primary threat to plant population viability in a perennial herb. Journal of Ecology 107(4): 1931-1943. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13146

Loughnan, D. E. E. and J. L. Williams. 2019. Climate and leaf traits, not latitude, explain variation in plant–herbivore interactions across a species’ range. Journal of Ecology 107(2): 913-922. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13065

Lustenhouwer, N., Williams, J. L. and J. M. Levine. 2019. Evolution during population spread affects plant performance in stressful environments. Journal of Ecology 107(1): 396-406. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13045