Erika Edwards

Last updated
Erika Edwards
Alma materYale University
Scientific career
Thesis Pereskia and the origin of the cactus life form  (2005)

Erika Jeannine Edwards is a professor at Yale University known for her work on evolution of plants. She is also the director of the Marsh Botanical Garden.

Contents

Education and career

Edwards has a B.S. from Stanford University (1998) and earned her Ph.D. from Yale University [1] where she worked on the evolution of the Pereskia , a genus of cactus. [2] Following her Ph.D. she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara before accepting a position at Brown University as an assistant professor in 2007. In 2017 she moved to Yale University as a professor and director of the Marsh Botanical Garden. [1]

In 2020 she began her term as president of the Society of Systematic Biologists. [3]

Research

Edwards research focuses on succulents and the evolution of C4 carbon fixation in plants. Her early research centered on Pereskia where she examined its physiology [4] and its place in the evolutionary history of cactus plants. [5] [6] Her research into C4 carbon fixation has examined how climate change alters the distribution of the C4 grasses and revealed that the C4 carbon fixation pathway gives plants an advantage in dry environments. [7] Her subsequent research tracked the increase in C4 grasses with increases in tropical woodlands and savannas. [7] Edwards led the working group which established the phylogeny of C4 grasses and defined the genetic differences across different types of grass. [8] [9] She uses changes in leaf shape to define how plants expend their resources during growth, [10] [11] examines plants' responses to changes in biome. [12] and compares the parallel evolution of C4 photosynthesis and crassulacean acid metabolism. [13] [14]

Selected publications

Awards and honors

In 2016, Edwards received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). [15] [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cactus</span> Family of mostly succulent plants, adapted to dry environments

A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word cactus derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word κάκτος (káktos), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. They are native to the Americas, ranging from Patagonia in the south to parts of western Canada in the north, with the exception of Rhipsalis baccifera, which is also found in Africa and Sri Lanka. Cacti are adapted to live in very dry environments, including the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place. Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only spines, which are highly modified leaves. As well as defending against herbivores, spines help prevent water loss by reducing air flow close to the cactus and providing some shade. In the absence of true leaves, cacti's enlarged stems carry out photosynthesis.

C<sub>4</sub> carbon fixation Photosynthetic process in some plants

C4 carbon fixation or the Hatch–Slack pathway is one of three known photosynthetic processes of carbon fixation in plants. It owes the names to the 1960s discovery by Marshall Davidson Hatch and Charles Roger Slack that some plants, when supplied with 14CO2, incorporate the 14C label into four-carbon molecules first.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Areole</span> Bumps on cacti out of which grow clusters of spines

In botany, areoles are small light- to dark-colored bumps on cacti out of which grow clusters of spines. Areoles are important diagnostic features of cacti, and identify them as a family distinct from other succulent plants. The spines are not easily detachable, but on certain cacti, members of the subfamily Opuntioideae, smaller, detachable bristles, glochids, also grow out of the areoles and afford additional protection.

<i>Pereskia</i> Genus of cacti

Pereskia is a small genus of about four species of cacti that do not look much like other types of cacti, having substantial leaves and non-succulent stems. The genus is named after Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, a 16th-century French botanist. The genus was more widely circumscribed until molecular phylogenetic studies showed that it was paraphyletic. The majority of species have since been transferred to Leuenbergeria and Rhodocactus. Although Pereskia does not resemble other cacti in its overall morphology, close examination shows spines developing from areoles, and the distinctive floral cup of the cactus family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chloridoideae</span> Subfamily of plants

Chloridoideae is one of the largest subfamilies of grasses, with roughly 150 genera and 1,600 species, mainly found in arid tropical or subtropical grasslands. Within the PACMAD clade, their sister group is the Danthonioideae. The subfamily includes widespread weeds such as Bermuda grass or goosegrass, but also millet species grown in some tropical regions, namely finger millet and teff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panicoideae</span> Subfamily of plants

Panicoideae is the second-largest subfamily of the grasses with over 3,500 species, mainly distributed in warm temperate and tropical regions. It comprises some important agricultural crops, including sugarcane, maize, sorghum, and switchgrass.

<i>Rhodocactus</i> Genus of cactus

Rhodocactus is a genus of flowering plant in the cactus family Cactaceae, native to central South America. Unlike most species of cacti, Rhodocactus has persistent leaves and a fully tree-like habit. The genus was sunk into a broadly circumscribed Pereskia, but molecular phylogenetic studies from 2005 onwards showed that with this circumscription Pereskia was paraphyletic, and in 2016, Rhodocactus was restored for southern South American species.

<i>Rhodocactus grandifolius</i> Species of cactus

Rhodocactus grandifolius is a species of cactus native to eastern and southern Brazil. Like all species in the genus Rhodocactus and unlike most cacti, it has persistent leaves. It was first described in 1819. It is grown as an ornamental plant and has naturalized outside its native range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evolutionary history of plants</span> History of plants

The evolution of plants has resulted in a wide range of complexity, from the earliest algal mats of unicellular archaeplastids evolved through endosymbiosis, through multicellular marine and freshwater green algae, to spore-bearing terrestrial bryophytes, lycopods and ferns, and eventually to the complex seed-bearing gymnosperms and angiosperms of today. While many of the earliest groups continue to thrive, as exemplified by red and green algae in marine environments, more recently derived groups have displaced previously ecologically dominant ones; for example, the ascendance of flowering plants over gymnosperms in terrestrial environments.

<i>Rhodocactus stenanthus</i> Species of cactus

Rhodocactus stenanthus is a species of cactus that is endemic to Brazil. First described as Pereskia stenantha, it was transferred to Rhodocactus in 2016. Like all species in the genus Rhodocactus, and unlike most cacti, it has persistent leaves. In its native locality, it is sometimes used in hedges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Donoghue</span> British paleontologist (born 1971)

Philip Conrad James Donoghue FRS is a British palaeontologist and Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol.

Torulene (3',4'-didehydro-β,γ-carotene) is a carotene which is notable for being synthesized by red pea aphids, imparting the natural red color to the aphids, which aids in their camouflage and escape from predation. The aphids have gained the ability to synthesize torulene by horizontal gene transfer of a number of genes for carotenoid synthesis, apparently from fungi. Plants, fungi, and microorganisms can synthesize carotenoids, but torulene made by pea aphids is the only carotenoid known to be synthesized by an organism in the animal kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PACMAD clade</span> A major clade in the grass family Poaceae

The PACMAD clade (previously PACCMAD, PACCAD, or PACC) is one of two major lineages (or clades) of the true grasses (Poaceae), regrouping six subfamilies and about 5700 species, more than half of all true grasses. Its sister group is the BOP clade. The PACMAD lineage is the only group within the grasses in which the C4 photosynthesis pathway has evolved; studies have shown that this happened independently multiple times.

The evolution of photosynthesis refers to the origin and subsequent evolution of photosynthesis, the process by which light energy is used to assemble sugars from carbon dioxide and a hydrogen and electron source such as water. The process of photosynthesis was discovered by Jan Ingenhousz, a Dutch-born British physician and scientist, first publishing about it in 1779.

<i>Leuenbergeria</i> Genus of cacti

Leuenbergeria is a genus of flowering plant in the family Cactaceae, mostly native around the Caribbean. Unlike most cacti, it has persistent leaves and develops bark on its stems early in its growth. The genus was created in 2012 by Joël Lodé. Before the creation of Leuenbergeria as a genus, the species within it were included in a broadly circumscribed genus, Pereskia. Leuenbergeria is the only genus in the subfamily Leuenbergerioideae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nectar spur</span>

A nectar spur is a hollow extension of a part of a flower. The spur may arise from various parts of the flower: the sepals, petals, or hypanthium, and often contain tissues that secrete nectar (nectaries). Nectar spurs are present in many clades across the angiosperms, and are often cited as an example of convergent evolution.

Elizabeth Anne Kellogg is an American botanist who now works mainly on grasses and cereals, both wild and cultivated. She earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1983, and was professor of Botanical Studies at the University of Missouri - St. Louis from September 1998 to December 2013. Since 2013 she has been part of the Kellogg Lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Missouri, where she is principal investigator In 2020 she was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

<i>Rhodocactus sacharosa</i>

Rhodocactus sacharosa, synonym Pereskia sacharosa, is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family Cactaceae, native from Bolivia and west-central Brazil to Paraguay and northern Argentina. Like all species in the genus Rhodocactus and unlike most cacti, it has persistent leaves. It was first described in 1879.

Caroline A. E. Strömberg is a Swedish-American paleontologist whose primary research focuses on the deep time evolution and ecology of plants through the use of the fossil record and by comparison with modern analogues, more specifically how previous plant communities changed in response to climate change and how plant evolution affected animal evolution. She is currently the Estella B. Leopold Professor of Biology and an adjunct associate professor in Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington and the Curator of Paleobotany at the affiliated Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

References

  1. 1 2 "Edwards CV" (PDF). Yale University. August 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  2. ↑ Edwards, Erika Jeannine (2005). Pereskia and the origin of the cactus life form (Thesis). OCLC   70234383.
  3. ↑ "Executive Committee - Society of Systematic Biologists". 2020-08-14. Archived from the original on 2020-08-14. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  4. ↑ Edwards, Erika J.; Diaz, Miriam (2006). "Ecological physiology of Pereskia guamacho, a cactus with leaves". Plant, Cell & Environment. 29 (2): 247–256. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2005.01417.x . ISSN   1365-3040. PMID   17080640.
  5. ↑ Edwards, Erika J.; Nyffeler, Reto; Donoghue, Michael J. (2005). "Basal cactus phylogeny: implications of Pereskia (Cactaceae) paraphyly for the transition to the cactus life form". American Journal of Botany. 92 (7): 1177–1188. doi:10.3732/ajb.92.7.1177. ISSN   1537-2197. PMID   21646140.
  6. ↑ Edwards, Erika J.; Donoghue, Michael J. (2006-06-01). "Pereskia and the Origin of the Cactus Life‐Form". The American Naturalist. 167 (6): 777–793. doi:10.1086/504605. ISSN   0003-0147. PMID   16649155. S2CID   832909.
  7. 1 2 Edwards, Erika J.; Smith, Stephen A. (2010-02-09). "Phylogenetic analyses reveal the shady history of C4 grasses". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107 (6): 2532–2537. Bibcode:2010PNAS..107.2532E. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0909672107 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   2823882 . PMID   20142480.
  8. ↑ Edwards, Erika J.; Osborne, Colin P.; Strömberg, Caroline A. E.; Smith, Stephen A.; Consortium, C4 Grasses; Bond, William J.; Christin, Pascal-Antoine; Cousins, Asaph B.; Duvall, Melvin R.; Fox, David L.; Freckleton, Robert P. (2010-04-30). "The Origins of C4 Grasslands: Integrating Evolutionary and Ecosystem Science". Science. 328 (5978): 587–591. Bibcode:2010Sci...328..587E. doi:10.1126/science.1177216. PMID   20431008. S2CID   17934192.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Grass Phylogeny Working Group II (2012). "New grass phylogeny resolves deep evolutionary relationships and discovers C4 origins". New Phytologist. 193 (2): 304–312. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03972.x . hdl: 2262/73271 . ISSN   1469-8137. PMID   22115274.
  10. ↑ Edwards, Erika J.; Chatelet, David S.; Sack, Lawren; Donoghue, Michael J. (2014). "Leaf life span and the leaf economic spectrum in the context of whole plant architecture". Journal of Ecology. 102 (2): 328–336. doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.12209 . ISSN   1365-2745.
  11. ↑ Ledford, Heidi (2018). "The lost art of looking at plants". Nature. 553 (7689): 396–398. Bibcode:2018Natur.553..396L. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-01075-5 . ISSN   0028-0836.
  12. ↑ Donoghue, Michael J.; Edwards, Erika J. (2014-11-23). "Biome Shifts and Niche Evolution in Plants". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 45 (1): 547–572. doi: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-120213-091905 . ISSN   1543-592X.
  13. ↑ Heyduk, Karolina; Moreno-Villena, Jose J.; Gilman, Ian S.; Christin, Pascal-Antoine; Edwards, Erika J. (2019). "The genetics of convergent evolution: insights from plant photosynthesis". Nature Reviews Genetics. 20 (8): 485–493. doi:10.1038/s41576-019-0107-5. ISSN   1471-0056. PMID   30886351. S2CID   81977914.
  14. ↑ Edwards, Erika J. (2019). "Evolutionary trajectories, accessibility and other metaphors: the case of C4 and CAM photosynthesis". New Phytologist. 223 (4): 1742–1755. doi: 10.1111/nph.15851 . ISSN   1469-8137. PMID   30993711. S2CID   119525986.
  15. ↑ "President Obama honors early career scientists with top White House award". www.nsf.gov. May 9, 2016. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
  16. ↑ "For botanist, road to White House led through Peruvian desert". Brown University. May 6, 2016. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
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