Andrew W. Douglas, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
1997-1999
Department of Botany
The Field Museum
Photo: Dr. Rick Lupia
Photo: Andrew W. Douglas
Labichea buettneriana
Photo: R. Foster and T. Wachter
Roupala montana
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Education:
- Ph.D., Botany, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1994.
M.S., Biology, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, 1989.
B.A., Biology, College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, 1986.
Awards:
- 1994-1997 Pacific-Dunlop Research Fellow, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
1991 Katherine Esau Award for Structural and Developmental Botany
1991 George R. Cooley Award for Systematic Botany
Current Research:
- Flower evolution and synorganization
Hypotheses of relationships among closely related taxa are required to assess the elements of morphological divergence within a developmental framework. Some of my present research is designed to clarify how changes in floral structure occur among closely related taxa, particularly the mechanisms associated with architectural novelty in flowers. Architectural novelty (e.g., zygomorphy, synorganization and other structural innovations) represents a unique mode of evolutionary divergence and it often confers a unique form of functional and structural adaptation to the organism. In a comparative phylogenetic context, architectural novelties result from unusual associations among floral organs compared to relatives that lack such floral associations. Taxa with architectural novelties therefore provide an ideal system to examine the fundamental elements of evolutionary divergence and the interrelated roles of development and evolution.
Proteaceae -
This project is designed to clarify the relationships among plants in the Macadamia Nut or Banksia family (photo on the left). Proteaceae comprises about 79 genera and its members have a ‘Gondwanic’ distribution in the southern hemisphere. The project involves numerous people from around the world including Dr Peter Weston (RBG-Sydney), Dr Sara Hoot (U.Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Dr Nigel Barker (Rhodes University, South Africa), Sir Ghilean Prance (RBG-Kew), Dr John Rourke (Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens, South Africa), Austin Mast (Univ. Wisconin-Madison), Vanessa Plana (RBG-Edinburgh). At present, six gene regions have been isolated for representative species in the family and this molecular data is being combined with a large morphological/developmental data base. Together, the databases should help in our understanding of the Natural History of this fantastic Southern Hemisphere family.
South American Proteaceae -
This is a collaborative project with Vanessa Plana from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland and Sir Ghilean Prance from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. The study is being carried out using morphological data already gathered at RBGKew and molecular data gathered at the Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Evolution in the Field Museum.
Proteaceae is a medium sized family distributed principally in the southern hemisphere. Nine of the 79 genera in the family are found in South and Central America and five of these are endemic. The revision of the Proteaceae for Flora Neotropica together with new phylogenetic studies of the family at the generic level have opened new questions on the process of speciation in the endemic South American Proteaceae as well as their biogeographic significance both locally and globally. Three of the South American genera (Roupala, Panopsis and Euplassa) are endemics and relatively speciose (ca. 30+ species each) in the tropical regions. Hypotheses generated from a phylogeny of the family reveal that each of these genera have an independent origin within the Americas. Interestingly, many of the species of each genus have overlapping distributions. This study will ultimately establish phylogenetic relationships among species within the three groups to better understand morphological and biogeographic diversification patterns.
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