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Current Members of the Lab:
Josh Brokaw
is
investigating the phylogeny and evolutionary significance of
polyploidy in Mentzelia sect. Trachyphytum for his
PhD dissertation. This clade of annual mentzelias has been a
considerable systematic problem, and Josh will use low copy
number nuclear markers to infer clades. Several polyploid
series have been hypothesized in the section, and Josh is
interested in reconstructing the ancestry of polyploids and the
influence of reproductive biology on the origin of polyploid
species.
Sarah Brustkern’s
MS
thesis research focuses on the Synthyris (Besseya)
wyomingensis complex, which is characterized by both
white and blue stamen morphs. White stamen morph populations
are found primarily at relatively low elevations in the
southeastern part of the complex’s distribution and blue stamen
morph populations are found primarily at high elevations (alpine
habitats) in the northern and western parts of the complex’s
distribution. Sarah is using plastid haplotype variation for
phylogeographic studies to examine whether historical processes
that underlie the variation in the complex can be reconstructed.
 Karol
Marlowe
(aka
Marlowe) is investigating historical biogeography and
phylogeography in the American West. Her historical
biogeographical research has focused on Gaillardia, a
genus of Asteraceae, for which she has used ITS and plastid
markers for phylogeny reconstruction. Marlowe is also examining
the phylogeography of two clades of Synthyris. Her work
on the Southern Rocky Mountain clade of Synthyris sect.
Besseya will help us to understand elevational and
geographical differentiation that may be associated with
speciation in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Work that she is
conducting on Synthyris sect. Dissecta aims to
clarify alpine disjunctions and the origin of species in the
Northern Rocky Mountains and Olympic Mountains.
John Schenk’s
dissertation focuses on modes of speciation in Mentzelia sect.
Bartonia. He is using low copy number nuclear markers to
reconstruct phylogenetic relationships in sect. Bartonia and
will apply this phylogeny to infer modes of geographic
speciation. John is especially interested in the dynamics of
speciation in a New Mexico clade of sect. Bartonia.
Lab Alumni:
Robert
Kuzoff (PhD 1998). The homology of inferior ovaries
of flowers was the central issue of Bob's dissertation research.
He used molecular phylogenetics and developmental morphology to
examine questions of homology and diversification in Lithophragma,
a genus of Saxifragaceae. After graduation, Bob had a postdoctoral
position in the laboratory of Charles Gasser at the University
of California, Davis; he is currently a faculty member in the
Department of Botany at the University of Georgia.
- Kuzoff,
R. K., D. E. Soltis, L. Hufford, and P. S. Soltis, 1999. Phylogenetic
relationships within Lithophragma (Saxifragaceae): hybridization,
allopolyploidy, and ovary diversification. Systematic Botany
24: 598-615.
- Kuzoff,
R. K., L. Hufford, and D. E. Soltis, 2001. Structural homology
and developmental transformations associated with ovary diversification
in Lithophragma (Saxifragaceae). American Journal of Botany
88: 196-205.
Michael
Moody (MS 1999). Michael's thesis research focused
on the evolution of Loasaceae subfamily Gronovioideae. His molecular
systematic research provided strong support for the monophyly
of Gronovioideae and for their placement as the sister clade of
Mentzelia. Michael's phylogenetic studies of Loasaceae sampled
most genera of the family and have served to provide critical
insights on the major clades of the family. Michael also examined
the developmental morphology of flowers of Gronovioideae and used
knowledge of phylogenetic relationships in the group to infer
how morphological diversification occurred in the clade. Michael
is currently a PhD student at the University of Connecticut.
- Moody,
M. and L. Hufford, 2000. Floral ontogeny and morphology in Cevallia,
Fuertesia, and Gronovia (Loasaceae subfamily Gronovioideae).
International Journal of Plant Sciences 161: 869-883.
- Moody,
M. L., L Hufford, D. E. Soltis, and P.S. Soltis, 2001. Phylogenetic
relationships of Loasaceae subfamily Gronovioideae inferred
from matK and ITS sequence data. American Journal of Botany
88: 326-336.
 Mark
Fishbein (postdoc 1998-2000). Mark was involved in
a project on the evolution of epigyny in the Saxifragales. This
required considerable effort to produce relatively robust phylogenetic
hypotheses for Saxifragales based on five DNA sequence markers.
Morphological data that Mark acquired for a range of Saxifragales
were optimized on the phylogenetic hypotheses to give us a portrayal
of ovary position diversification, which is very labile and includes
transformations from inferior to truly superior ovaries. Mark
is currently a faculty member in the Department of Biology at
Mississippi State University.
- Fishbein,
M., C. Hibsch-Jetter, D. E. Soltis, and L. Hufford, 2001. Phylogeny
of Saxifragales (angiosperms, eudicots): analysis of a rapid,
ancient radiation. Systematic Biology 50: 817-847.
 Michelle
McMahon (PhD 2002). Shelley's dissertation research
focused on the phylogenetic systematics and floral morphological
evolution of the legume tribe Amorpheae. Shelley found that the
two main clades (amorphioids and daleoids) of Amorpheae differ
in their patterns of floral diversification. The daleoids have
a novelty called the stemonozone, which perches petals on stamens,
and Shelley explored its homology and diversification. She also
examined a set of perianth simplifications that characterized
the diversification of amorphioids. Shelley is currently a postdoc
with Michael Sanderson and Peter Wainwright at the University
of California, Davis.
- McMahon,
M. and L. Hufford, 2002. Developmental morphology and structural
homology of corolla-androecium synorganization in the tribe
Amorpheae (Fabaceae: Papilionoideae). American Journal of Botany
89: 1884-1898.
- McMahon,
M. and L. Hufford, in press. Phylogeny of Amorpheae (Fabaceae:
Papilionoideae). American Journal of Botany.
 Angela
Streit(MS
2004). Angie’s thesis research applied plastid haplotypes to
infer the phylogeography of the Synthyris missurica
complex, a clade of Synthyris restricted to montane
forest communities are disjunct among three major mountain
complexes in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. She
inferred that S. missurica originated via range
expansion from an ancestor northeast of the Great Basin and may
have been isolated following an ecological shift from ancestral
alpine habitats to mesic forests. Angie’s results pointed to
the importance of range expansion in creating the broad outline
of S. missurica distribution and to both early
fragmentation and later, possibly multiple, dispersals in
shaping is geographic disjunctions.
 Robin
O'Quinn(PhD
2005). Robin conducted phylogenetic, biogeographic, and
morphological studies of Claytonia and Montia (Montieae,
Portulacaceae) for her PhD research. DNA sequence data from
nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer and plastid
trnK/matK were used to reconstruct the phylogeny of Montieae.
The ancestral area for Montieae was reconstructed as western
North America. Robin inferred that there have been multiple
shifts in Claytonia from mid to high northern latitudes.
Perennation structures in Claytonia exhibit considerable
morphological diversity, which has played a major role in the
traditional systematics of the genus. Robin examined the
structural homologies of shoot systems in Claytonia,
giving particular attention to the diversity of perennation
structures. Globose perennation structures are predominantly
shoot and usually bear only shoot-borne roots; whereas elongate
perennation structures consist of both root and shoot.
Morphological changes associated with senescence of the primary
root at the end of the first growing season appear to be tied to
changes from rocky and unstable to more loamy substrates and
from alpine to lower elevation habitats. In the Claytonia
sibirica complex, shoots are rhizomatous but have
specialized in Claytonia sibirica var. bulbillifera,
a serpentine endemic, to have bulb morphology. Robin is
currently a post-doc with Mark Fishbein at Mississippi State
University.
O’Quinn, R.
and L. Hufford. In press. Molecular systematics of Montieae (Portulacaceae):
Implications for taxonomy, biogeography and ecology.
Systematic Botany.
O’Quinn, R. and L. Hufford. Submitted. Shoot morphology in the
Claytonia sibirica complex (Portulacaceae). Madroņo.
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