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.

2021

URQUHART, C. A. and WILLIAMS, J. L. 2021 ‘Trait correlations and landscape fragmentation jointly alter expansion speed via evolution at the leading edge in simulated range expansions’ Theoretical Ecology 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. et al. 2021 ‘Wildcards in climate change biology’ Ecological Monographs https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1471

2020

DUNCAN, S. S. and WILLIAMS, J. L. 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  https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1531

JOHNSON, J. C. and WILLIAMS, J. L. 2020 ‘A native annual forb locally excludes a closely related introduced species that co-occurs in oak-savanna habitat remnants’ AoB PLANTS 12(5)   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 WILLIAMS, J. L. 2020 ‘Eco-evolutionary dynamics of range expansion’ Ecology 101(10)   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 MILLER, T. E. X. 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 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 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 MILLER, T. E. X. 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   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13146

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

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

2018

WILLIAMS, J. L. and LEVINE, J. M. 2018 ‘Experimental evidence that density dependence strongly influences plant invasions through fragmented landscapes’ Ecology 99(4), 876-884  https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2156

GERMAIN, R. M., WILLIAMS, J. L., SCHLUTER, D. and ANGERT, A. L. 2018 ‘Moving Character Displacement beyond Characters Using Contemporary Coexistence Theory’ Trends in Ecology & Evolution 33(2), 74-84  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.11.002

LUSTENHOUWER, N., WILSCHUT, R. A., WILLIAMS, J. L., VAN DER PUTTEN, W. H. and LEVINE, J. M. 2018 ‘Rapid evolution of phenology during range expansion with recent climate change’ Global Change Biology 24(2), e534-e544   https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13947

2017

TROWBRIDGE, C. C., STANLEY, A., KAYE, T. N., DUNWIDDIE, P. and WILLIAMS, J. L. 2017 ‘Long‐term effects of prairie restoration on plant community structure and native population dynamics’ Restoration Ecology 25(4), 559-568   https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.12468

SARGENT, R., ANGERT, A. L. and WILLIAMS, J. L. 2017 ‘When are species invasions useful for addressing fundamental questions in plant biology? American Journal of Botany 104(6), 797-799  DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1700087