Research in the Roalson Lab:
Currently, our research efforts focus on:
- understanding patterns of angiosperm diversity including studying the processes that lead to speciation and diversification of flowering plant groups;
- understanding the evolutionary dynamics of morphological traits important to diversification, particularly inflorescence and floral structural changes; and
- understanding mechanisms of cytogenetic change, particularly the evolution of agmatoploid chromosome number change in the Cyperales.
Construction of phylogenetic hypotheses is an integral part of all of these research interests. By combining phylogenetic analyses with field, laboratory, and greenhouse studies, we seek to understand the evolutionary dynamics of morphological, physiological, and cytological characteristics. Current projects are focusing on the Cyperaceae, particularly the genera Carex and Eleocharis, the Gesneriaceae genera Cyrtandra, Achimenes, and Gloxinia, and the Chenopodiaceae subfamilies Suaedoideae and Salsoloideae, with studies exploring a variety of phylogenetic, cytogenetic, morphological, and physiological questions.
