Management Committee

Department of Botany
The Field Museum

Phylogeny, character evolution, and diversification of extant ferns and basal tracheophytes.

Assistant Curator, Pteridophytes, Department of Botany, Field Museum; Lecturer, Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago

Education:

B.Sc., Biology, McGill University, 1976.
M.Sc., Botany, University of Guelph, 1981.
Ph.D., Botany, Duke University, 1995.

Awards:

Associate Editor, Canadian Journal of Botany.
Post-doctoral Research Associate, Indiana University (Bloomington), 1996.
A. W. Mellon Program in Plant Systematics Dissertation Fellowship, Duke University, 1995.
Katherine Stern Dissertation Fellowship, Duke University Graduate School, 1994-95.
Lawrence Memorial Award, Hunt Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 1994.
A.W. Mellon Junior Fellowship, Molecular Systematics Lab, Smithsonian Institution, 1994.
Lionel Cinq-Mars Award (Honorable Mention), Canadian Botanical Association, 1993.
Edgar T. Wherry Award, Botanical Society of America, 1988.

Research Interests:

Phylogenetics of ferns and basal tracheophytes using morphological and molecular data; systematics of basal fern families (Marsileaceae, Hymenophyllaceae); ontogeny and phylogeny; morphometrics

Current Research:

My primary research focuses on understanding higher-level phylogeny of extant ferns and basal tracheophytes by integrating evidence from both morphology and molecules (DNA sequence data from multiple genes). I also use an explicit phylogenetic framework to examine the morphological evolution of various sporophytic and gametophytic characters within ferns, and to gain insight into the evolution of various life history traits that typify ferns. I have a particular interest in the systematics of the temperate genus Gymnocarpium, and the aquatic, heterosporous family Marsileaceae; morphometric information on the ontogeny of leaf form in ferns has been useful in evaluating hypotheses implicating heterochrony in this family. A recent new focus has been on the systematics and phylogeny of the "filmy ferns", or Hymenophyllaceae, the largest and most diverse basal lineage of ferns. Other areas of research interest include the integration of information from the fossil record of pteridophytes to further refine our current understanding of relationships; using morphology, isozymes, and chromosomal evidence to elucidate the systematics and evolution of cryptic species complexes (including hybrids); revisionary, floristic, and conservation studies.

Selected Publications:

1990. Argus, G.W. and K.M. Pryer. Rare Vascular Plants in Canada - Our Natural Heritage. Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa.

1993. Pryer, K.M. Gymnocarpium. Pp. 258-262. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds.), Flora of North America North of Mexico, vol. 2. Oxford University Press, New York.

1993. Pryer, K.M. and C.H. Haufler. Isozymic and chromosomal evidence for the allotetraploid origin of Gymnocarpium dryopteris (Dryopteridaceae). Systematic Botany 18: 150-172.

1995. Hasebe, M., P.G. Wolf, K.M. Pryer, K. Ueda, M. Ito, R. Sano, G.J. Gastony, J. Yokoyama, J.R. Manhart, N. Murakami, E.H. Crane, C.H. Haufler, and W.D. Hauk. Fern phylogeny based on rbcL nucleotide sequences. American Fern Journal 85: 134-181.

1995. Pryer, K.M., A.R. Smith, and J.E. Skog. Phylogenetic relationships of extant ferns based on evidence from morphology and rbcL sequences. American Fern Journal 85: 205-282.

1998. Wolf, P.G., K.M. Pryer, A.R. Smith, and M. Hasebe. Phylogenetic studies of extant pteridophytes. In Molecular systematics of plants II: DNA sequencing, eds. P. S. Soltis, D. E. Soltis, and J. J. Doyle, pp. 541-556. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

1999. Turner, S., K.M. Pryer, V.P.W. Miao, and J.D. Palmer. Investigating deep phylogenetic relationships among cyanobacteria and plastids by small subunit rRNA sequence analysis. Journal of Eurkaryotic Microbiology 46: 327-338.

1999. Pryer, K. M. Phylogeny of marsileaceous ferns and relationships of the fossil Hydropteris pinnata reconsidered. International Journal of Plant Sciences 160: 931-954.

2001. Pryer, K.M., H. Schneider, A.R. Smith, R. Cranfill, P.G. Wolf, J.S.Hunt, & S.D. Sipes. Horsetails and ferns are a monophyletic group and the closest living relatives to seed plants. Nature 409:618-622.

2001. Pryer, K.M., A.R. Smith, J.S. Hunt, & J.-Y. Dubuisson. rbcL data reveal two monophyletic groups of filmy ferns (Filicopsida: Hymenophyllaceae). American Journal of Botany 88:1118-1130.

2001. Smith, A.R., H. Tuomisto, K.M. Pryer, J.S. Hunt & P.G. Wolf. A second species of Metaxya and unexpected genetic variation in the previously monospecific tree fern family Metaxyaceae. Systematic Botany 26:480-486.

Current Position:

www.pryerlab.net