Puni Jeyasingh, Professor

Ecology, Evolution, Limnology, Biogeochemistry

Ph.D., 2007, University of Oklahoma

Email: puni.jeyasingh@okstate.edu

Lab website

Specific Interests

What constrains biomass production? Detailed understanding of growth at various levels of organization, from cells to ecosystems, exist although models differ widely in complexity, and predictive capability. We look at biomass production using two principles: mass balance, and natural selection. Although most growth trajectories are unimodal as a function of nutrient supply, the parameters of this curve differ markedly among species, and within species over time or space. Isolating effects of mass-balance enables a more informed analyses of how and why natural selection shapes the quotient. We strive to measure the entire suite of elements involved in the system (using high throughput elemental profiling), and account for genetic sources of variation (using genomics or breeding designs). As such, we utilize a range of experimental designs and statistical methods to make sense of high-dimensional data. A central thrust of our work has been to empirically verify the mechanistic basis of theory in the field of ecological stoichiometry. Such work has highlighted the need for information on the entire suite of elements, which is aided by high-throughput elemental profiling, and referred to as the field of ionomics. Positions for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral research is available or can be developed - email Puni to find out.

Selected Publications

• Jeyasingh PD, JM Goos, PR Lind, P Roy Chowdhury, RM Sherman (2020). Phosphorus supply shifts the quotas of multiple elements in algae and Daphnia: ionomic basis of stoichiometric constraints. Ecology Letters. DOI:10.1111/ele.13505
• Jeyasingh PD, K Pulkkinen (2019). Does differential iron supply to algae affect Daphnia life history? An ionome-wide study. Oecologia 191: 51-60.
• Rudman SM, JM Goos, JB Burant, KV Brix, TC Gibbons, CJ Brauner, PD Jeyasingh (2019). Ionome and elemental transport kinetics shaped by parallel evolution in threespine stickleback. Ecology Letters 22: 645-653.
• Lind PR, PD Jeyasingh (2018). Interactive effects of dietary phosphorus and iron on Daphnia life history. Limnology & Oceanography 63: 1181-1190.
• Jeyasingh PD, J Goos, S Thompson, C Godwin, J Cotner (2017). Ecological stoichiometry beyond Redfield: An ionomic perspective on elemental homeostasis. Frontiers in Microbiology 8: 722.
• Frisch D, P Morton, P Roy Chowdhury, B Culver, JK Colbourne, LJ Weider, PD Jeyasingh (2014). A millennial-scale chronicle of evolutionary responses to cultural eutrophication in Daphnia. Ecology Letters 17: 360-368.
• Jeyasingh PD, RD Cothran, M Tobler (2014). Testing the ecological consequences of evolutionary change using elements. Ecology & Evolution 4: 528-538.
• Jeyasingh PD, LJ Weider (2007). Fundamental links between genes and elements: the evolutionary implications of ecological stoichiometry. Molecular Ecology 16: 4649-4661.
• Jeyasingh PD (2007). Plasticity in metabolic allometry: the role of dietary stoichiometry. Ecology Letters 10: 282–289.