# positions[].organizations[].parent[].label
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

# overview
Dr. Lawing is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology. She is primarily interested in using methods and models from modern ecology and evolutionary biology combined with evidence from the fossil record to inform our understanding of how species and communities respond to environmental change through time. Her work includes the investigation of geographic, evolutionary, and morphological responses of species and communities to environmental changes in the Late Pleistocene and throughout the Miocene to present. She is involved in developing species distribution models (SDM), geometric morphometric methods (GMM), and phylogenetic comparative methods (PCM). Before becoming an Assistant Professor, Dr. Lawing was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS). She earned a PhD double major in Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior and in Geological Sciences from Indiana University, Bloomington.

# keywords[]
4101 Climate Change Impacts And Adaptation

# keywords[]
3709 Physical Geography And Environmental Geoscience

# keywords[]
4101 Climate Change Impacts And Adaptation

# keywords[]
4101 Climate Change Impacts And Adaptation

# keywords[]
Reptilia, Holbrookia Lacerata, Holbrookia Subcaudalis, Texas, Balcones Escarpment, Nd2, Rag-1, Morphology, Environmental Niche

# keywords[]
4101 Climate Change Impacts And Adaptation

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Indiana University Bloomington - (Bloomington, Indiana, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].field
Evolution, Ecology & Behavior, and Geological Sciences

# publications[].label
Ophidian physique: the capacity of middle trunk vertebral shape for quantitative taxonomic delimitation in snakes

# publications[].label
USING ECOLOGICAL NICHE MODELS TO EXPLORE PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHIC PATTERNS

# publications[].label
Considerations and Pitfalls in the Spatial Analysis of Water Quality Data and Its Association With Hydraulic Fracturing

# publications[].label
Grab the Lizard by the Horns: Morphological Patterns in Horned Lizard Skulls

# publications[].label
Integrating ensemble habitat suitability models to guide conservation strategies for the endangered Houston toad Anaxyrus houstonensis

# publications[].label
Taxonomic scale and community organization impact observed latitudinal gradients of parasite diversity

# publications[].label
Conservation biology: Fossils inform the future.

# publications[].label
Trait-based approaches to paleoenvironmental reconstructions: What is in the community-weighted trait mean?

# publications[].label
Cranial morphology of captive mammals: a meta-analysis.

# publications[].label
DEVELOPING ECOMETRICS VIA MIDDLE TRUNK VERTEBRAL MORPHOLOGY IN NORTH AMERICAN SNAKES

# publications[].label
Bayesian and Classical Machine Learning Methods: A Comparison for Tree Species Classification with LiDAR Waveform Signatures

# publications[].label
Comparison of environmental inference approaches for ecometric analyses: Using hypsodonty to estimate precipitation.

# publications[].label
Adult Education at Biological Field Stations: Building Capacity for Science Learning

# publications[].label
Evolutionary increases in body size are linked to female pelvis evolution in response to habitat rather than reproduction.

# publications[].label
The Past as a Lens for Biodiversity Conservation on a Dynamically Changing Planet

# publications[].label
Coding meristic characters for phylogenetic analysis: a comparison of step-matrix gap-weighting and generalized frequency coding.

# publications[].label
Body size evolution in insular speckled rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalus mitchellii).

# publications[].label
Ecometric models of small mammal hypsodonty can estimate paleoprecipitation across eastern Africa

# publications[].label
The past as a lens for biodiversity conservation on a dynamically changing planet.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Biogeographic consequences of shifting climate for the western massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus).

# publications[].label
Geography of artiodactyl locomotor morphology as an environmental predictor

# publications[].label
The Evolution of Wing Colorfulness in a Butterfly Group

# publications[].label
Fossil snakes of the Penny Creek Local Fauna from Webster County, Nebraska, USA, and the first record of snakes from the Early Clarendonian (12.5-12 Ma) of North America

# publications[].label
ECOMORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION OF THE DISTAL PHALANX IN THE CERVIDAE: DO CAPTIVE MODERN ANALOGUES SKEW RESULTS?

# publications[].label
The geography of phylogenetic paleoecology: integrating data and methods to better understand biotic response to climate change

# publications[].label
ECOMORPHOLOGY AS A PREDICTOR OF MODERN AND PALEOENVIRONMENT IN SNAKES

# publications[].label
ppgm: an R package for integrating neontological, palaeontological, and climate data in a phylogenetic comparative framework

# publications[].label
A Framework for Informal STEM Education Outreach at Field Stations

# publications[].label
Climate and Competition Shape Species Borders: A Study of the Panamint (Crotalus stephensi) and Speckled (Crotalus mitchellii) Rattlesnakes

# publications[].label
Annual precipitation drives fire occurrence across sub-humid and semi-arid ecological gradients

# publications[].label
Spatial inequalities leave micropolitan areas and Indigenous populations underserved by informal STEM learning institutions.

# publications[].publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

# publications[].label
Pleistocene climate, phylogeny, and climate envelope models: an integrative approach to better understand species' response to climate change.

# publications[].label
Continuously growing rodent molars result from a predictable quantitative evolutionary change over 50 million years.

# publications[].label
Notes on activity, body size variation, and diet in insular speckled rattlesnakes from the western Sea of Cats, Mexico

# publications[].label
Endocranial volume increases across captive generations in the endangered Mexican wolf.

# publications[].label
A Framework for Investigating Rules of Life by Establishing Zones of Influence.

# publications[].label
The Ecology of Morphology: The Ecometrics of Locomotion and Macroenvironment in North American Snakes

# publications[].label
Environmental filtering improves ecological niche models across multiple scales

# publications[].label
Community Limb Morphology of Artiodactyla as an Environmental Predictor

# publications[].label
Locomotor morphology of ungulate communities as an environmental predictor

# publications[].label
The nonrandom evolution of gene families.

# publications[].label
INTEGRATING FOSSILS, PHYLOGENIES, AND PALEOCLIMATE MODELS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND SPECIES AND COMMUNITIES RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

# publications[].label
Occurrence data uncover patterns of allopatric divergence and interspecies interactions in the evolutionary history of Sceloporus lizards.

# publications[].label
Phylogenetic Principal Components Analysis and Geometric Morphometrics

# publications[].label
Volunteers as Learners and Leaders: Considerations for Meaningful Service Opportunities

# publications[].label
Morphological differentiation of Peromyscus leucopus and P. maniculatus in East Texas

# publications[].label
Diverse aging rates in ectothermic tetrapods provide insights for the evolution of aging and longevity.

# publications[].publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

# publications[].label
An evaluation of parapatric distributions among ecologically similar rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalus) in North American warm deserts

# publications[].label
Assessing Impact of Domestic and Non-Native Species on Trait-Environment Relationships Using Hypsodonty and Precipitation Since the Late Pleistocene

# publications[].label
Limitations of climatic data for inferring species boundaries: insights from speckled rattlesnakes.

# publications[].label
Pleistocene Disruption of Trait-Environment Relationships Informs the Future Conservation of African Megafauna

# publications[].label
A Humboldtian approach to life and climate of the geological past: Estimating palaeotemperature from dental traits of mammalian communities

# publications[].label
Disruptions to the trait-environment relationships of African mammals

# publications[].label
Elevation gradients and lizard assemblage structure in the Bonneville Basin, western USA

# publications[].label
Sexual Dimorphism in Dispersal Traits for the Highly Invasive Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis)

# publications[].publisher
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH)

# publications[].label
PIF-like transposons are common in drosophila and have been repeatedly domesticated to generate new host genes.

# publications[].label
commecometrics: an R package for trait-environment modelling at the community level.

# publications[].label
Occupancy models reveal regional differences in detectability and improve relative abundance estimations in fossil pollen assemblages

# publications[].label
Modeling habitat suitability for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in the Greater Nimba Landscape, Guinea, West Africa.

# publications[].label
Phylogenetic structure of Holbrookia lacerata (Cope 1880) (Squamata: Phrynosomatidae): one species or two?

# publications[].label
Defining ecologically, geographically, and politically coherent boundaries for the Northern Gulf of Mexico coastal region: Facilitating ecosystem-based management

# publications[].label
Biological Field Stations Promote Science Literacy through Outreach

# publications[].label
Fine-scale roadkill risk models: understanding the intersection of wildlife and roads

# publications[].label
Trophically integrated ecometric models as tools for demonstrating spatial and temporal functional changes in mammal communities.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Ecometrics: A Trait-Based Approach to Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction

# publications[].label
Ecometrics demonstrates that the functional dental traits of carnivoran communities are filtered by climate.

# publications[].label
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? SPATIAL ECOLOGY OF WESTERN CHICKEN TURTLES (DEIROCHELYS RETICULARIA MIARIA)

# publications[].label
STANDING UP TO CLIMATE CHANGE: COMMUNITY LOCOMOTOR ECOMORPHOLOGY AND PALEOENVIRONMENT IN THE PLIO-PLEISTOCENE

# publications[].label
INTRASPECIFIC VARIATION IN THE ROSY BOA (LICHANURA TRIVIRGATA)

# publications[].label
Merging paleobiology with conservation biology to guide the future of terrestrial ecosystems.

# publications[].publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

# publications[].label
Changes in canid cranial morphology induced by captivity and conservation implications

# publications[].label
Corrigendum: Morphological differentiation of Peromyscus leucopus and P. maniculatus in East Texas

# publications[].label
A solution to the challenges of interdisciplinary aggregation and use of specimen-level trait data.

# publications[].label
Disruption of trait-environment relationships in African megafauna occurred in the middle Pleistocene.

# publications[].label
Community functional trait composition at the continental scale: the effects of non-ecological processes

# publications[].label
Processes of ecometric patterning: modelling functional traits, environments, and clade dynamics in deep time

# publications[].label
Geometric morphometrics: recent applications to the study of evolution and development

# publications[].label
Sexual differences in head form and diet in a population of Mexican lance-headed rattlesnakes, Crotalus polystictus

# publications[].label
Evaluating the significance of paleophylogeographic species distribution models in reconstructing quaternary range-shifts of nearctic chelonians.

# publications[].label
Clade sorting has a greater effect than local adaptation on ecometric patterns in Carnivora

# publications[].label
One of these wolves is not like the other: morphological effects and conservation implications of captivity in Mexican wolves

# publications[].label
Reconstructing historical shifts in suitable habitat of Sceloporus lineages using phylogenetic niche modelling

# publications[].label
Morphological variation of cranial elements in the western massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus)

# publications[].label
Use of scalation landmarks in geometric morphometrics of squamate reptiles: a comment on homology.

# publications[].label
Including Fossils in Phylogenetic Climate Reconstructions: A Deep Time Perspective on the Climatic Niche Evolution and Diversification of Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus).

# publications[].label
Random subset feature selection for ecological niche models of wildfire activity in Western North America

# researcherOn[].label
Informal science learning at biological field stations

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Science Foundation - (Arlington, Virginia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Paleobiology, Evolution, and Climate: Interdisciplinary Research for Conservation

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institute of Food and Agriculture - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Climate, Evolution, and Biodiversity: Interdisciplinary Research for Conservation

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institute of Food and Agriculture - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Genomics of the Desert Massasauga (Sistrurus tergeminus edwardsii)

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
United States Department of the Interior - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)

# streetAddress
TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE RESEARCH; Ecosystem Science & Management; 2138 TAMU

# organizations[]
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

# schools[]
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

# etdChairOf[].label
Siciliano Martina, Leila Marie (2020-08). Variation in the Skull Morphology of Captive Mammals: A Geometric Morphometric and Meta-Analytic Approach. Doctoral Dissertation.

# etdChairOf[].label
West, James Vincent (2022-08). Why so Horn-y?: Teasing Apart Influences on Morphological Variation in Horns and Skulls of Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma). Master's Thesis.

# etdChairOf[].label
Brooke, Chase Tyler (2017-08). Identifying the Environmental Controls on Wildland Fire in the South-Central United States. Master's Thesis.

# etdChairOf[].label
Short, Rachel Ann (2020-05). Paleobiology of Mammals Using Functional Trait-Environment Relationships Across Space and Through Time for Conservation and Public Understanding of Science. Doctoral Dissertation.

# etdChairOf[].label
Jacisin III, John Joseph (2021-12). Slithering Through Space and Time: Uncoiling the Roles of Ecology and Phylogeny on Morphological Variation in Fossil and Extant North American Snakes Across Taxonomic, Temporal, and Spatial Scales. Doctoral Dissertation.