Publications & Presentations
Publications
In Review:
Armstrong, M. L., Erickson, K. L., Hawthorne, R.* & Bay, R. A. (Invited to a Special Issue on Genomics and Fitness Consequences of Gene Flow at Molecular Ecology) Parallel polygenic urban adaptation despite high gene flow in a coastal marine invertebrate
Armstrong, M. L., De Castro, F., Porter, J,*, Roybal, E.*, Neal, C.*, Mikeska, L.*, Cameron, B., and Bay, R., (American Naturalist) Urchin Larvae From Urban Populations Have Altered Responses To Pollutant Exposure
Peer-Reviewed:
Armstrong, M. L., Bala, S.*, & Bay, R. A. (2025). Developmental and Transcriptomic Responses in Sea Urchin Larvae to an Urban‐Associated Pollutant. Ecology and Evolution, 15(9), e72183.
Park, J., Brown, C., Hess, C., Armstrong, M., Rocke, D. M., Galvez, F., & Whitehead, A. (2025). Multiple stressors in the Anthropocene: Urban evolutionary history modifies sensitivity to the toxic effects of crude oil exposure in killifish. Evolutionary Applications, 18(5), e70112.
Rumberger, C., Armstrong, M. (co-first author), Kim, M.*, Ponce, R.*, Melendez, J.*, DeBiasse, M., DeBiasse,M., Caplins, S.,& Bay, R. (2025). Selection Over Small and Large Spatial Scales in the Face of High Gene Flow. Molecular Ecology, 34(6), e1770
Meyer, M., Brousil, M., Lee, B., Armstrong, M., Bloom, E., and Crowder, D. (2024) Identifyingdrivers of sewage-associated human pollutants in pollinators across urban landscapes, Apidologie 55(1), 3.
*indicates undergraduate coauthors.
Presentations
Talks
2026
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Seminar Series in Dartmouth, MA, “Parallel Polygenic Signals of Adaptation Across Marine Invertebrates”, invited seminar
American Genetics Association Presidential Symposium on Polygenic Adaptation in a Changing World in Tahoe, CA, “The Role of Genotypic Redundancy in Adaptation to Environmental Variation”, selected symposium talk
University of Rhode Island Seminar Series in Kingston, RI, “Evolutionary implications of urbanization on a coastal marine invertebrate”, invited seminar
2025
Bodega Marine Laboratory Seminar Series at Bodega Bay, CA, “Evolutionary implications of urbanization on a coastal marine invertebrate”
Center for Population Biology Seminar Series at Davis, CA, “Evolutionary implications of urbanization on a coastal marine invertebrate”
California Academy of Sciences Seminar Series, Invited Speaker “Adaptation to urbanization in a coastal marine invertebrate”– youtube link
Art, Science and Sea Urchins Workshop, Sponsored by the UC Davis BML
National Evolution Conference “Stressful cities: how urbanization influences genomic variation in marine invertebrate populations”
2024
UC Davis Coastal Marine Science Institute Symposium “How stressful are cities? Investigating the impacts of urban pollution on marine invertebrates”
UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory Friday Forum Series “Exploring the effects of an urban pollutant on an intertidal marine invertebrate”
National Evolution Conference, “Exploring the effects of an urban pollutant on an intertidal marine invertebrate” invited urban evolutionary ecotoxicology symposium speaker
2022
Western Society of Naturalists Conference “Dynamics of selection and gene flow in Pacific purple sea urchin populations along the California Coast”
RCN for Evolving Seas Integration and Training Workshop (working group information) “Teaching Bioinformatics to Undergraduate and Graduate Students: A Case Study”
UC Davis Center for Population Biology Seminar “Stressful Cities: Genomic Variation Across S. purpuratus Populations Associated with Coastal Urban Stress”
2019-2021
National Evolution Conference (virtual) “Stressful Cities: Genomic Variation Across S. purpuratus Populations Associated with Coastal Urban Stress”
Western Society of Naturalists Conference (2020, virtual) “Stressful Cities: Genomic Variation Across S. purpuratus Populations Associated with Coastal Urban Stress”
UC Davis Center for Population Biology Workshop (2020) “Stressful Cities: Genomic Variation Across S. purpuratus Populations Associated with Coastal Urban Stress”
WSU Honors College Thesis Defense (2019) “Phenotypic Plasticity as an Explanation of Invasion Success”
Poster Presentations:
Armstrong,M., Porter, J., and Bay, R. Exploring the Effects of an Urban Pollutant on an Intertidal Marine Invertebrate (2023) National Evolution Conference in Albuquerque, NM
Armstrong, M., Smithson, M., and Dybdahl, M. Phenotypic Plasticity as an Explanation of Invasion Success.
2019 National Evolution Conference in Providence, RI.
2019 WSU Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA). 2nd place
Armstrong, M., Smithson, M., Hudak, A., and Dybdahl, M. Is Phenotypic Variation Within and Between Populations of a Parthenogenic Invasive Species Adaptive?
2018 Evolution Washington, Idaho, British Columbia and Oregon Conference (EVO-WIBO). undergraduate poster award
2018 WSU SURCA. 1st place
Armstrong, M., Smithson, M., and Dybdahl, M. Phenotypic Differences in a Single Clonal Type in Newly Colonized and Established Populations.
2017 National Evolution Conference in Portland, OR.
2017 WSU SURCA. 2nd place
Thomas, C., Armstrong, M., Dybdahl, M., and Finger, J. Genotype specific differences in the predicted and observed spread of an invasive species (2016) WSU SURCA
Recreating the photo at my exit seminar at BML with Eric Sanford
Celebrating being done with my exit seminar!
The urban evolutionary biologist squad.
Had a great time sharing my work at Cal Academy
Presenting at Bodega Marine Lab Friday forum seminar series.
Celebrating my final plasticity poster at Evolution 2019.