Dillon Wheeler

My interests center on the behavioral mechanisms, ecological dynamics, and evolutionary processes that shape symbiotic mutualisms, specifically multi-species interactions between insects, plants, and fungi.

This interest was sparked during my B.S. in Biology at Lee University, where I worked with Dr. Thaddeus McRae to examine salticid-tree associations in temperate forests. I also worked at Michigan State University with Dr. Kadeem Gilbert to explore how captured plant detritus impacts the digestive mutualisms and nutritional strategies of the carnivorous pitcher plant, S. purpurea. I then earned my M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University, where I worked with Dr. Sunshine Van Bael to investigate how genotype specialization by fungal communities impacts tropical seedling fitness and drives conspecific negative density-dependence. I also studied at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute with Dr. Dale Forrister, where I executed high-throughput fungal growth bioassays, quantifying how plant secondary metabolites shape pathogen host range."