PUBLICATIONS

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xuPxxFsAAAAJ&hl=en
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0982-7496

Dickman, EE, Pennington, LK, Franks, SJ, Sexton, JP (2019). Evidence for adaptive responses to historic drought across a native plant species range. Evolutionary Applications, 12(8), 1569-1582.

Shay, JE, Pennington, LK, Montiel-Molina, JAM, Toews, DJ, Hendrickson, B, Sexton, JP. Rules of plant species ranges: applications for conservation strategies. (2021). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, p.664.

Pennington, LK, Slatyer, RA, Ruiz‐Ramos, DV Veloz, SD and Sexton, JP. (2021). How is adaptive potential distributed within species ranges?. Evolution, 75(9),.2152-2166.

Pennington, LK, Sexton, JP. (2024). Species Range Limits. Encyclopedia of Biodiversity (Third Edition), Academic Press. 219-236.

Pennington, LK, Escalona, M.*, J Toews, D., Chumchim, N., Cooper, R., Fairbairn, C.W., Marimuthu, M.P., Miller, C., Nguyen, O.H., Ruiz-Ramos, D. and Seligmann, W.E. (2025). A reference genome for Colusa grass, Neostapfia colusana, a threatened and endangered California vernal pool plant. Journal of Heredity.

Toews, D.J., Escalona, M.*, Pennington, LK, Chumchim, N., Fairbairn, C.W., Marimuthu, M.P., Miller, C., Nguyen, O.H., Ruiz-Ramos, D., Seligmann, W.E. and Stephens, M. (2025). A genome assembly of Greene’s tuctoria, Tuctoria greenei, an amphibious endemic and endangered California vernal pool grass. Journal of Heredity.

Shay, J., Pennington, LK, Toews, D., Green, E., and J.P. Sexton. (2026). The leading edge matters too: fitness and the expression of adaptive differentiation are greatest at the high-elevation edge of a species’ range. Ecology Letters. DOI:10.1111/ele.70329

Pennington, LK, Sheth, S.N., Franks, S.J., Anderson, J.T., Hamann, E., 2025. Two decades of resurrection studies: What have we learned about contemporary evolution of plant species? https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.07.27.667050. Accepted, American Journal of Botany.

Pennington, LK, Sexton, JP. “Resurrected in the field: benefits of adaptation to historic drought seen mainly at the leading edge of a plant species range.” biorxiv prepint: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.12.711156. In review.

Pennington, LK, Sexton, JP. “Evidence for rapid drought adaptation but mixed heat adaptation to recent climate stress across a native plant species’ range.” In review.

*denotes co-first authorship

PRESENTATIONS AND INVITED TALKS

I present my work whenever possible, to report my results, work on my science communication, and receive feedback. Here is a summary of the presentations I've given outside of classes.

2014

Pennington L., Templer P. “Climate Change Across Seasons: A Study of Stem Efflux”.

Oklahoma City University Undergraduate Research PowerPoint contest. Third place.

Pennington L., McCoy E., Kauffman L. “Orangutans: A Study of Activity and Play”

American Association of Physical Anthropologists conference, Calgary, Canada. Poster.
Oklahoma City University Undergraduate Research poster contest. First place.

2015

Pennington L., Sexton J. “The Effect of the 2013 Rim fir on White Fir seedlings in the Sierra Nevada Range”.

Beta Beta Beta Regional conference.

2019

Pennington L., Dickman E, Sexton J. “Survival in a Drier World: A Study of Rapid Adaptation in Response to Drought in the Sierra Nevada Endemic Forb, Erythranthe laciniatus; Or: What to Expect When You’re Expecting Climate Change”.

Northern California Botanists symposium. Second place winner in poster contest.
Invited talk. Botanical Society of America Annual Conference. Demography of Alpine Plants symposium.

2021

Pennington L., Sexton J. “A Tale of Two Experiments: How the CA drought affected natural populations of an endemic monkeyflower.”

Invited talk. Sierra Streams Institute.
Invited talk. Marymount University. "Science Career Seminar - SCI342"

2023-2024

Pennington LK, Sexton JP. “Contemporary Evolution, Range Limits, and Climate Change: An Investigation of Population Adaptation across Species’ Ranges”

2023: Invited talk. Penn State Ecology Seminar.

2024: Invited talk. UGA Ecology/Diversity/Genetics/Evolution (EDGE) Seminar.

2025

Pennington, LK, Sheth, S.N., Franks, S.J., Anderson, J.T., Hamann, E., 2025. Two decades of resurrection studies: What have we learned about contemporary evolution of plant species?

Society for the Study of Evolution.

OUTREACH

FEMINIST BIRD CLUB

The Feminist Bird Club is an international group that promotes accessibility in birding.
I lived in Atlanta during my post-doc, and during that time I served as an organizer for the Atlanta chapter of the Feminist Bird Club. We led bird walks, organized overnight camping trips to facilitate even more birding, and hosted bird trivia nights at a local pub. I also led a series called Birding Across Seasons, where we visited the same park during different seasons to better understand how bird populations varied by season.

RADIOBIO

RadioBio is a science communication and outreach group which I had the pleasure of being a part of almost my whole graduate career. RadioBio is primarily a podcast group, and we interview visiting scholars about their research. Our podcast has listeners in over twelve countries!
I served as Editor-in-Chief for two years and as President for one. Under my leadership, we increased recruitment and partnerships on campus, including undergraduate and administrative groups.

GRAD-EXCEL PEER MENTORING

I was a peer mentor through the Grad-EXCEL peer mentoring program at UC Merced for three years. I mentored eight first year graduate students in that time, guiding them through their first years and often beyond.

COMMITTEE WORK

I was a student representative for my graduate group's executive council, as well as my graduate group's DEI committee. In the executive committee I was one of three voices for the students of my graduate group, making sure that any decisions that are made also have grad student welfare in mind. I also aided in planning for graduate group events.
In the DEI committee I offered a student's perspective on DEI issues as well as the perspective of a person of color. I hope my work on the committee furthered recruitment and retention of students of color to my department, while making sure the department is a welcoming and equitable place.