Education: 2010 Ph.D. University of Guelph, Department of Integrative Biology 2005 M.Sc. University of Guelph, Department of Botany 2003 B.Sc. Mount Allison University, Department of Biology, with honors

My research focuses on the evolution of plant physiology. I am particularly interested in the biotic and abiotic causes of plant physiological adaptation, and examining how physiological variation influences community and ecosystem function.

Sherrard, M. E., H. Maherali. 2012. Local adaptation across a fertility gradient is influenced by soil biota in the invasive grass, Bromus inermis. Evolutionary Ecology 26: 529-544. Maherali, H., C. M. Caruso, M. E. Sherrard, and R. G. Latta. 2010. Adaptive value and costs of physiological plasticity to soil moisture limitation in recombinant inbred lines of Avena barbata. American Naturalist 175: 211-224. Maherali, H., C. M. Caruso, and M. E. Sherrard. 2009. The adaptive significance of ontogenetic changes in physiology: a test in Avena barbata. New Phytologist 183: 908-918. Sherrard, M. E., H. Maherali, and R. G. Latta. 2009. Water stress alters the genetic architecture of functional traits associated with drought adaptation in Avena barbata. Evolution 63: 702-715. Maherali, H., M. E. Sherrard, M. H. Clifford, and R. G. Latta. 2008. Leaf hydraulic conductivity and photosynthesis are genetically correlated in an annual grass. New Phytologist 180: 240-247. Sherrard, M. E. and H. Maherali. 2006. The adaptive significance of drought escape in Avena barbata, an annual grass. Evolution 60: 149-160. Caruso C. M., H. Maherali, and M. E. Sherrard. 2006. Plasticity of physiology in Lobelia: testing for adaptation and constraint. Evolution 60: 980-990.