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

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-null. 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, 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 2014): 402-413. 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

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

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-null. (Review) Full Text Open Access Copy

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