Kathleen M. Pryer

Professor in the Department of Biology

Office: 
358 Bio Sci Bldg, Durham, NC 27708
Campus Box: 
Box 90338, Durham, NC 27708-0338
Phone: 
(919) 660-7380
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

Rothfels, CJ, Li, F-W, Sigel, EM, Huiet, L, Larsson, A, Burge, DO, Ruhsam, M, Deyholos, M, Soltis, DE, Stewart, CN, Shaw, SW, Pokorny, L, Chen, T, dePamphilis, C, DeGironimo, L, Chen, L, Wei, X, Sun, X, Korall, P, Stevenson, DW, Graham, SW, Wong, GK-S, and Pryer, KM. "The evolutionary history of ferns inferred from 25 low-copy nuclear genes." American journal of botany 102, no. 7 (July 16, 2015): 1089-1107. Full Text Open Access Copy

Rothfels, CJ, Johnson, AK, Hovenkamp, PH, Swofford, DL, Roskam, HC, Fraser-Jenkins, CR, Windham, MD, and Pryer, KM. "Natural hybridization between genera that diverged from each other approximately 60 million years ago." The American naturalist 185, no. 3 (March 2015): 433-442. Full Text Open Access Copy

Li, F-W, Melkonian, M, Rothfels, CJ, Villarreal, JC, Stevenson, DW, Graham, SW, Wong, GK-S, Pryer, KM, and Mathews, S. "Phytochrome diversity in green plants and the origin of canonical plant phytochromes." Nature communications 6 (January 2015): 7852-. Full Text Open Access Copy

Huiet, L, Lenz, M, Nelson, JK, Pryer, KM, and Smith, AR. "Adiantumshastense, a new species of maidenhair fern from California." PhytoKeys, no. 53 (January 2015): 73-81. Full Text Open Access Copy

Li, F-W, Rothfels, CJ, Melkonian, M, Villarreal, JC, Stevenson, DW, Graham, SW, Wong, GK-S, Mathews, S, and Pryer, KM. "The origin and evolution of phototropins." Frontiers in plant science 6 (January 2015): 637-. Full Text Open Access Copy

Rothfels, CJ, Johnson, AK, Windham, MD, and Pryer, KM. "Low-copy nuclear data confirm rampant allopolyploidy in the Cystopteridaceae (Polypodiales)." Taxon 63, no. 5 (October 29, 2014): 1026-1036. Full Text

Sigel, EM, Windham, MD, Haufler, CH, and Pryer, KM. "Phylogeny, Divergence Time Estimates, and Phylogeography of the Diploid Species of the Polypodium vulgare Complex (Polypodiaceae)." Systematic Botany 39, no. 4 (October 1, 2014): 1042-1055. Full Text

Sigel, EM, Windham, MD, and Pryer, KM. "Evidence for reciprocal origins in Polypodium hesperium (Polypodiaceae): a fern model system for investigating how multiple origins shape allopolyploid genomes." American journal of botany 101, no. 9 (September 17, 2014): 1476-1485. Full Text

Grusz, AL, Windham, MD, Yatskievych, G, Huiet, L, Gastony, GJ, and Pryer, KM. "Patterns of Diversification in the Xeric-adapted Fern Genus Myriopteris (Pteridaceae)." Systematic Botany 39, no. 3 (July 1, 2014): 698-714. Full Text

Li, F-W, Villarreal, JC, Kelly, S, Rothfels, CJ, Melkonian, M, Frangedakis, E, Ruhsam, M, Sigel, EM, Der, JP, Pittermann, J, Burge, DO, Pokorny, L, Larsson, A, Chen, T, Weststrand, S, Thomas, P, Carpenter, E, Zhang, Y, Tian, Z, Chen, L, Yan, Z, Zhu, Y, Sun, X, Wang, J, Wang, J, Stevenson, DW, Crandall-Stotler, BJ, Shaw, AJ, Deyholos, MK, Soltis, DE, Graham, SW, Windham, MD, Langdale, JA, Wong, GK-S, Mathews, S, and Pryer, KM. "Horizontal transfer of an adaptive chimeric photoreceptor from bryophytes to ferns." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111, no. 18 (May 2014): 6672-6677. Full Text

Pages

A plan to rehouse and reorganize the vascular plant herbarium and botanical library at Duke University (DUKE) awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2007 to 2011

Career: Reconciling patterns of phylogenetic rate heterogenity in ferns with morphology, ecology and life history awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2004 to 2010

DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolution and diversification of epiphytic ferns awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2004 to 2007

REU Site: Bioinformatic and Phylogenetic approaches to the study of plant and fungal biodiversity awarded by National Science Foundation (Co Investigator). 2004 to 2007

Collaborative Research: Using phylogeny to investigate the history of morphological evolution in heterosporous ferns awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2001 to 2005

(93-0602) Ontogeny and Phylogeny in the Aquatic Fern Family Marsileaceae awarded by National Science Foundation (Co-Principal Investigator). 1993 to 1995

Pages

Due to sponsor publicity restrictions, some awards may not be displayed.