Emily Sessa

T.A. for Plant Systematics (Botany 400) 

Lab 302    esessa@wisc.edu

Office Hours: Mon 1-2:00 

301 Birge Hall, 265-5473

My research interests involve phylogenetic systematics and physiological ecology of the seed-free vascular plants known as the ferns. My PhD dissertation research combines systematics and physiology in a study of the woodfern genus, Dryopteris. This large (ca. 225 species worldwide) genus includes ~30 species in the New World, 13 in North American and ~16 in Central and South America. These taxa vary greatly in their distributions, habitats, and morphologies, and reticulate evolution is known to have played a role in the history of the North American group. My research involves identifying regions of origin of the species in the New World, dating historical movements of Dryopteris globally, and testing an existing hypothesis to explain the reticulate history of the North American taxa. Physiological studies involve characterizing light regimes of the North American taxa and comparing static and dynamic photosynthetic responses among species, focusing on the polyploids and their diploid parents. Phylogenetic analyses to date indicate multiple origins of New World Dryopteris ancestors in Asia, with subsequent movements to North and Central America. Preliminary results also provide strong support for the reticulation hypothesis and existence of a "missing diploid" ancestor in the North American group.

http://www.botany.wisc.edu/esessa

 

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