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Visiting the Poison Garden at Blarney Castle

Floral trait evolution from micro- to macroevolutionary scales

I am a plant evolutionary biologist interested in how floral color and other attraction traits (scent, morphology) are involved in evolutionary processes at micro- and macroevolutionary scales. Floral color (both visible and UV) is my major trait of interest, but I am also more broadly interested in the evolution of floral attraction traits such as scent and morphology, as well as plant-pollinator and plant-environmental interactions.

I am currently a Research Fellow at the Harvard University Herbaria mentored by Dr. Robin Hopkins. Here I am addressing micro- and macroevolutionary patterns of floral color evolution in North American Silene. Of the ~700 Silene species, only eight produce truly red flowers. These red-flowering species only belong to polyploid lineages and are restricted to North America. To determine what the most likely driver of floral color evolution is in Silene (pollinator shifts, sympatric competition, or polyploidy), I will use phylogenetics, biochemistry, molecular and functional genetics, and field work.

Contact Information:

email: andreaberardi (at) fas.harvard.edu OR berardi.andrea.e (at) gmail.com

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