Hybridization has long fascinated evolutionary biologists. Hybridization leads to novel combinations of genes which can lead to diverse evolutionary outcomes; maladaptive[...]

Despite comprising over half of all orchid species globally, mycorrhizal associations in tropical epiphytic orchids remain relatively understudied compared to their terre[...]

The 8 different diploid Gossypium genomes vary about three-fold in genome size. DNA renaturation kinetic analyses more than 30 years ago suggested that much of this varia[...]

The wealth of sequence data from many flowering plant species offer unique opportunities for us to understand the dynamic genomic changes that have occurred in many plant[...]

Heterogenous environmental pressures can produce locally adapted populations which have higher fitness in their local environment compared to those from outside environme[...]

The rhizoplane, the surface of plant roots, hosts a taxonomically distinct microbial community that is crucial for understanding plant-microbe interactions. This zone is [...]

Helianthus porteri is a sunflower endemic to drought-prone granite outcrops, suggesting that this species possesses some combination of morphological and physiological tr[...]

Plants growing in different environments may require variable stomatal behavior to regulate their water loss. This study investigated how variation in water supply at two[...]

Hybridization is an important evolutionary process leading to the establishment of new species. Ecological speciation, or the formation of new species by colonization of [...]

It has long been recognized that species distributions are related to their ability to acquire and use resources such as water and nutrients. However, our understanding [...]

With the pressures of climate change and human population growth affecting agricultural land use, it is important to consider the use of wild adaptations to maintain and [...]

The genus, Callisia (Commelinaceae), of the subtribe Tradescantiinae, currently consists of approximately 20 species confined to the New World tropics and warm temperate [...]

Upon germination, filamentous fungi grow mainly by tip extension after brief isotropic expansion. This dissertation uses Aspergillus nidulans as a model organism to study[...]

In this dissertation, I describe the relationships between mature trees and seedlings in Northeast Georgia temperate forests, with a focus on how tornado disturbance can [...]

Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) are the single most abundant type of transposable element in the rice genome with at least 100 families and almost[...]

Secondary cell wall formation is essential to plant mechanical structure and vascular system function. The evolution of the plant vascular system allowed for efficient w[...]

Polyploidy has been an important component to the evolution of angiosperms. Recent studies have shown that an ancient polyploid (paleopolyploid) event can be traced to t[...]

I sampled woody species compositions on 19 forested sites of the Cherokee National Forest (CNF) in eastern Tennessee. A hierarchical cluster analysis derived 10 groups o[...]

This thesis addresses natural history of the HD-Zip gene family, especially class III (HDZ-III). I explore patterns of sequence variation in HDZ-III across the land plant[...]

Plant functional traits are hypothesized to co-vary and have been often interpreted as reflecting resource strategies for acquisition, transport, and use of carbon, water[...]

The Etowah River Basin in North Georgia is a biologically diverse Southern Appalachian River system, threatened by regional population growth. This is a two-part botanica[...]

The spore-forming Gram-positive bacteria of the genus Bacillus is present in diverse natural environments. Among Bacilli, we show that members of the Bacillus cereus sens[...]

The symbiotic algae of corals, dinoflagellates of the genus Symbiodinium, exist in a harsh environment characterized by high temperatures, hyperoxia, ultraviolet radiatio[...]

The kinetochore, a protein complex that assembles on the centromere, tethers the chromosome to the microtubules and plays fundamental roles in chromosome orientation and [...]