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
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

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

Korall, P, and Pryer, KM. "Global biogeography of scaly tree ferns (Cyatheaceae): Evidence for Gondwanan vicariance and limited transoceanic dispersal." Journal of Biogeography 41, no. 2 (February 1, 2014): 402-413. Full Text

Sigel, EM, Windham, MD, Smith, AR, Dyer, RJ, and Pryer, KM. "Rediscovery of Polypodium calirhiza (Polypodiaceae) in Mexico." Brittonia 66, no. 3 (January 1, 2014): 278-286. Full Text

Li, F-W, and Pryer, KM. "Crowdfunding the Azolla fern genome project: a grassroots approach." GigaScience 3 (January 2014): 16-. Full Text

Sessa, EB, Banks, JA, Barker, MS, Der, JP, Duffy, AM, Graham, SW, Hasebe, M, Langdale, J, Li, F-W, Marchant, DB, Pryer, KM, Rothfels, CJ, Roux, SJ, Salmi, ML, Sigel, EM, Soltis, DE, Soltis, PS, Stevenson, DW, and Wolf, PG. "Between two fern genomes." GigaScience 3 (January 2014): 15-. (Review) Full Text

Sigel, EM, Windham, MD, Smith, AR, Dyer, RJ, and Pryer, KM. "Rediscovery of Polypodium calirhiza (Polypodiaceae) in Mexico." Brittonia 66 (2014). Full Text

Korall, P, and Pryer, KM. "Global biogeography of scaly tree ferns (Cyatheaceae): evidence for Gondwanan vicariance and limited transoceanic dispersal (Accepted)." Journal of Biogeography 40 (2013): in press-. (Academic Article)

Grusz, AL, Pryer, KM, Yatskievych, G, Huiet, RL, Gastony, GJ, and Windham, MD. "Refining the phylogeny of cheilanthoid ferns: The resurrection and recircumscription of Myriopteris (Pteridaceae) (Submitted)." Systematic Botany (2013). (Academic Article)

León, B, Rothfels, CJ, Arakaki, M, Young, KR, and Pryer, KM. "Revealing a cryptic fern distribution through DNA sequencing: Pityrogramma trifoliata in the western Andes of Peru (Submitted)." American Fern Journal 103 (2013). (Academic Article)

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