Kathleen Donohue
Post - Assistant Professor
Harvard University Address
Kathleen Donohue
Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Harvard University Herbaria
22 Divinity Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
Main research topics
Kathleen is interested in evolutionary ecology and evolutionary genetics. Her research is directed to investigate complex evolutional characters including phenotypic plasticity, dispersal, dormancy, and parental effects.
Ecological genetics in Arabidopsis thaliana
This Ivy League university Lab investigates the evolutionary ecology of mobility through investigation of seed dormancy and dispersal.
The evolution of seed dispersal
Dispersal is a major factor that influences the rate and outcome of evolution. It is therefore of considerable interest to investigate how dispersal evolves. In plants dispersal is maternally determined. We use the Great Lakes sea rocket to investigate the evolution of dispersal.
The evolution of phenotypic plasticity
This project studies the evolution of plant responses to vegetation shade. To this aim we use the model system Impatiens capensis.
Selected publications
Donohue, Kathleen, Dorn, Lisa, Griffith, Converse, Kim, EunSuk, Aguilera, Anna, Polisetty, Chandra R., Schmitt, Johanna. 2005: THE EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF SEED GERMINATION OF ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA: VARIABLE NATURAL SELECTION ON GERMINATION TIMING. Evolution: Vol. 59, No. 4, pp. 758–770.
Donohue, K. 2002. Germination timing influences natural selection on life-history characters in Arabidopsis thaliana. Ecology 83:1006-1016.
Jacques Dumais
Post - Assistant Professor
Harvard University Address
Jacques Dumais
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Harvard University
Biological Laboratories (rm 1105)
16 Divinity Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA
Main research topics
Jacques is interested in the molecular and mechanical controls of plant morhogenesis. The structure and composition of plant cells have evlolved so as to make use of to the tensile forces generated by turgor pressure for shape.
Microstructural Theory of Wall Expansion: This aims to link the the microstructure of plant cell walls with mechanical properties. Cellulose microfibrils are thought to play a major role in determining the mechanical properties of the cell wall. By measuring mechanical strains associated with morphopgenesis we established that morphogenesis occurs isotropic in its plane
Mechanics of Tip Growth: we carry out work in a range of tip growing cells such as root hairs and pollen tubes to determine the constraints of tip growth.
Meristem Growth: we work on the mechanical deformation of the shoot apical meristem.
Morphological Evolution: we are interested in unravelling the the effects of multicellularity on morphological evolution.
Selected publications
Dumais, J. and D. Kwiatkowska (2002) Analysis of surface growth in shoot apices. The Plant Journal 31: 229-241
Dumais,J., K. Serikawa, and D.F. Mandoli (2000) Acetabularia: a unicellular model for understanding subcellular localization and morphogenesis during development. Journal of Plant Growth Regulation 19: 253-264
Brian Farrell
Post - Professor
Harvard University Address
Brian D. Farrell
Museum of Comparative Zoology
Harvard University
26 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Main research topics
Brian Farrell works at Harvard, an Ivy League College and is interestedis interested in the effects of variation in habitat availability upon speciation.
When consideruing the evolution of herbivory it is important to take a dual approach that considers both the plant perspective and the insect. With this in mind we focus on recent evolutionary history in the interaction of host specialization, and the habitat spatial distribution in speciation.
We have also begun studies in the role of microbial symbionts in mediating insect/plant interactions. Some of our important new work is explicitly focused on insect host specialization and population structure in the tropics.
Selected Publications
Farrell, B. D., and A. S. Sequeira. 2004. Evolutionary rates in the adaptive radiation of beetles on plants. Evolution 58:1984-2001
Farrell, B. D. 1999. Flowers and insect evolution. Science 283:143