Kelly Wuthrich
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550 E. Orange St Room 317 Tempe, AZ 85287
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Mail code: 4501Campus: Tempe
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I am broadly interested in evolutionary ecology across scales, from phenotypes to functional genomics. My work is focused on understanding the drivers of rapid phenotypic plasticity in response to changes in environment. I have used Anolis lizards as a model system to test differing phenotypic responses such as color change, thermal tolerance, and behavior in both my undergraduate and graduate studies. For my postdoc, I am working with Schistocerca grasshoppers to elucidate the drivers of phase-change polyphenism in swarming species using a variety of functional genomics tools.
B.S. Biological Sciences, Binghamton University, SUNY 2021
M.S. Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 2025
Ph.D. Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 2026
Phenotypic plasticity, transcriptomics, epigenomics, thermal physiology
2026
10) Wuthrich, K. L.*, Fontaine S. S.*, C. Alfonso, K. Alujević, L. Bakewell, J. Keller, Y. López-Tacoaman, N. Ponce, A. Vivas, C. E. Williams, W. O. McMillan, C. L. Cox, M. L. Logan. Gut microbiome composition and diversity are associated with heat tolerance plasticity in a tropical lizard. Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology. Accepted.
*Authors contributed equally to this work.
9) Lopez, Y. F. T., M. Alcivar, K. A. Alujević, L. Bakewell, J. D. Curlis, A. Gonzalez, N. D. Gripshover, S. Gulati, R. Pirani, N. Ratia, D. Romero, K. L. Wuthrich, C. L. Cox, M. L. Logan, W. O. McMillan, S. S. Fontaine, C. E. Williams. Host and environmental drivers of gut microbiome variation in wild Anolis lizards. Molecular Ecology. 35:e70358. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70358
2025
8) Cox, C. L., K. L. Wuthrich, D., Aloudeh, S. J. Baker, A. G. Climo, A. F. Gross, C. W. Kizer, Z. Korff, O. Melendez, V. Y. Silva, A. M. Spans, G.R. Thilenius, I.T. Clifton, A. K. Chung. Plasticity and regional heterothermy of upper thermal tolerance in the ringneck snake. Journal of Thermal Biology. 135:104354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2025.104354
7) Bakewell L., C. Alfonso, K. A. Alujević, S. S. Fontaine, J. Keller, Y. F. Lopez-Tacoaman, N. E. Ponce Chilan, A. Vivas, C. E. Williams, K. L. Wuthrich, W. O. McMillan, M. L. Logan, C. L. Cox. Higher parasite load is associated with lower heat tolerance in a tropical lizard. Journal of Experimental Biology. 228(18): jeb250580. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.250580
6) Wuthrich K. L., L. Swierk. Color-changing signals are independent of social interactions, but correlate with body condition in an Anolis lizard. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 146(2): blaf075. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaf075
5) Wuthrich K. L., A. K. Chung, A Rosso, W. O. McMillan, M. L. Logan, C. L. Cox. Beating the heat: a lowland tropical lizard expresses heat shock protein networks in response to acute thermal stress. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 65(4): 1109-1120. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaf057
2024
4) Alujević K, L. Bakewell, I. Clifton, C. L. Cox, L. O. Frishkoff, E. J. Gangloff, G. Garcia-Costoya, M. E. Gifford, M. Glenwinkel, S. Gulati, A. Head, M. Miles, C. Pettit, C.M. Watson, K. L. Wuthrich, M. L. Logan. 3D printed models are an accurate, cost-effective, and reproducible tool for quantifying terrestrial thermal environments. Journal of Thermal Biology. 119, 103762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2023.103762
2022
3) Wuthrich K. L., A. Nagel, L. Swierk. Rapid body color change provides lizards with facultative crypsis in the eyes of their avian predators. The American Naturalist. 199: 277-290. https://doi.org/10.1086/717678
2) Wuthrich K. L., D. Stock, J. Talavera, B. Putman, L. Swierk. Sexual signal conspicuity is correlated with tail autotomy in an anoline lizard. Current Zoology. https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoab064
2021
Other Peer-Reviewed Contributions
1) Wuthrich K.L., L Swierk. 2021. Anolis aquaticus (= Norops aquaticus) (Water Anole). Dewlap coloration. Herpetological Review. 52: 401-402.