Kathleen M. Pryer, Professor  

Kathleen M. Pryer

My research focuses on understanding the evolutionary relationships of ancient land plants, especially ferns and horsetails, by integrating evidence from morphology, molecules (DNA sequence data from multiple genes), and the fossil record. I use an explicit phylogenetic framework to examine the morphological evolution of various sporophytic and gametophytic characters within vascular plants, and to gain insight into the evolution of various life history traits and the body plans that typify vascular plants. A phylogenetic perspective also informs my molecular evolutionary studies that attempt to elucidate why we observe remarkable rate heterogeneity in chloroplast genes in land plant phylogeny.

Education:
Ph.D., Duke University, 1995
M.S., University of Guelph (Canada), 1981
B.S., McGill University (Canada), 1976

Office Location: 358 Bio Sci Bldg, Durham, NC
Office Phone: +1 919 660 7380
Email Address: pryer@duke.edu
Web Page: http://pryerlab.biology.duke.edu
Additional Web Page: http://sites.duke.edu/pryerlab

Specialties:
Evolution
Systematics

Research Categories: Evolutionary biology of early land plants

Research Description: My research focuses on understanding the evolutionary relationships of ancient land plants, especially ferns and horsetails, by integrating evidence from morphology, molecules (DNA sequence data from multiple genes), and the fossil record. I use an explicit phylogenetic framework to examine the morphological evolution of various sporophytic and gametophytic characters within vascular plants, and to gain insight into the evolution of various life history traits and the body plans that typify vascular plants. A phylogenetic perspective also informs my molecular evolutionary studies that attempt to elucidate why we observe remarkable rate heterogeneity in chloroplast genes in land plant phylogeny.

Representative Publications   (More Publications)   (search)

  1. Rothfels, CJ; Larsson, A; Li, F; Sigel, EM; Huiet, L; Burge, DO; Ruhsam, M; Graham, SW; Stevenson, DW; Wong, GK, Transcriptome-mining for single-copy nuclear markers in ferns, PloS one, vol. 8 no. 10 (2013), pp. e76957, Public Library of Science [24116189], [doi]  [abs].
  2. Korall, P; Pryer, KM, Global biogeography of scaly tree ferns (Cyatheaceae): evidence for Gondwanan vicariance and limited transoceanic dispersal, Journal of Biogeography, vol. 40 no. 2 (2013), pp. in press [doi]  [abs].
  3. Li, F; Pryer, KM; Windham, MD, Gaga, a new fern genus segregated from Cheilanthes (Pteridaceae), Systematic Botany, vol. 37 no. 4 (2012), pp. 845-860, American Society of Plant Taxonomists [repository], [doi]  [abs].
  4. Beck, JB; Allison, JR; Pryer, KM; Windham, MD, Identifying multiple origins of polyploid taxa: a multilocus study of the hybrid cloak fern (Astrolepis integerrima; Pteridaceae)., American journal of botany, vol. 99 no. 11 (November, 2012), pp. 1857-1865 [23108464], [doi]  [abs].
  5. Rothfels, CJ; Larsson, A; Kuo, L-Y; Korall, P; Chiou, W-L; Pryer, KM, Overcoming deep roots, fast rates, and short internodes to resolve the ancient rapid radiation of eupolypod II ferns., Systematic biology, vol. 61 no. 3 (May, 2012), pp. 490-509 [22223449], [doi]  [abs].
  6. Schuettpelz, E; Pryer, KM, Evidence for a Cenozoic radiation of ferns in an angiosperm-dominated canopy, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 106 no. 27 (2009), pp. 11200-11205, National Academy of Sciences [19567832], [doi]  [abs].
  7. Schuettpelz, E; Pryer, KM, Fern phylogeny inferred from 400 leptosporangiate species and three plastid genes, Taxon, vol. 56 no. 4 (2007), pp. 1037-1050, WILEY [doi]  [abs].
  8. Smith, AR; Pryer, KM; Schuettpelz, E; Korall, P; Schneider, H; Wolf, PG, A classification for extant ferns, Taxon, vol. 55 no. 3 (2006), pp. 705-731, WILEY [doi]  [abs].
  9. Schneider, H; Schuettpelz, E; Pryer, KM; Cranfill, R; Magallón, S; Lupia, R, Ferns diversified in the shadow of angiosperms., Nature, vol. 428 no. 6982 (April, 2004), pp. 553-557 [15058303], [doi]  [abs].
  10. Pryer, KM; Schneider, H; Smith, AR; Cranfill, R; Wolf, PG; Hunt, JS; Sipes, SD, Horsetails and ferns are a monophyletic group and the closest living relatives to seed plants., Nature, vol. 409 no. 6820 (February, 2001), pp. 618-622 [11214320], [doi]  [abs].