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     Our research focuses on angiosperm systematics, and in particular on the following broad topical areas: (1) patterns of morphological and molecular evolution and their relationship to biodiversity; (2) species definition and the interpretation of molecular and morphological patterns at the base of the systematic hierarchy; (3) historical associations among taxa and their integration in life histories; and (4) methodological issues in systematics.  A number of angiosperm families are under study in our lab, including Orchidaceae, Ericaceae, Sarraceniaceae, and Hypoxidaceae.  We use cladistic methods to answer questions that can be framed in a hierarchic phylogenetic context.  This often necessitates collecting data from morphology, development and molecular sources.

The Systematics Group at OSU. 
 

What is systematics and why is it important?
 

Online tools for plant taxonomy

CURRENT PERSONNEL:

John V. Freudenstein, PhD, Associate Professor of EEOB and Director of the OSU Herbarium -- systematics of Orchidaceae, pyroloid Ericaceae, Sarracenia, theory of systematics.

Craig F. Barrett, MS, PhD student -- relationships in the Corallorhiza striata complex (Orchidaceae), including molecular evolution and plant-fungal interactions.

Michael Broe, PhD, PhD student

FORMER PERSONNEL:

Mingjuan Huang, PhD (PhD student)

Shawn E. Krosnick, PhD (PhD student; now Postdoc at Rancho Santa Ana Bot. Garden)

Julie Morris, MS (Masters student; now a postdoc at U-Texas, Brownsville)

Erik P. Rothacker, PhD ( PhD student; now teaching at OSU)

Mark P. Simmons, PhD  (Postdoc; now a faculty member at Colorado State University)

 

RESEARCH PROJECTS:

Phylogenetic relationships in Orchidaceae: molecular and structural approaches
Phylogeny of Hypoxidaceae and related families
Fungal endophytes of Orchidaceae: specificity and opportunism
Phylogeny of Pyroloideae (Ericaceae)
Species boundaries and relationships in Sarracenia (Sarraceniaceae)
Relationships in Corallorhizinae and Corallorhiza and the evolution of leaflessness (Orchidaceae)
Character coding and phylogenetic methods

 

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

Freudenstein, J. V.  and D. M. Senyo.  2008.  Relationships and evolution of matK in a group of leafless orchids (Corallorhiza and Corallorhizinae; Orchidaceae: Epidendroideae). American Journal of Botany 95: 498-50

Gonzalez, F.,  J. Betancur, O. Maurin, J. V. Freudenstein and M. W. Chase.  2007.  Metteniusaceae, an early-diverging family in the lamiid clade.   Taxon 56: 795-800

Graham, S. A., J. V. Freudenstein and M. Luker.  2006.  A phylogenetic study of Cuphea (Lythraceae) based on morphology and nuclear rDNA ITS sequences.  Systematic Botany 31: 764-778.

Petersen, G., O. Seberg, J. I Davis, D. H. Goldman, D. W. Stevenson, L. M. Campbell, F. A. Michelangeli, C. D. Specht, M. W. Chase, M. F. Fay, J. C. Pires, J. V. Freudenstein, C. R. Hardy and M. P. Simmons.  2006.  Mitochondrial DNA in monocot phylogenetics.  Aliso 22: 52-62.

Freudenstein, J. V.  2005.  Characters, states and homology.  Systematic Biology 54: 965-973.

van den Berg, C., D. H. Goldman, J.V. Freudenstein, A.M. Pridgeon, K.M. Cameron, & M.W. Chase.  2005.  An overview of the phylogenetic relationships within Epidendroideae (Orchidaceae) and recircumscription of Epidendreae and Arethuseae.  American Journal of Botany 92: 613-624.

Kristiansen, K. A., J. V. Freudenstein, F. N. Rasmussen and H. N. Rasmussen.  2004.  Molecular identification of mycorrhizal fungi in Neuwiedia veratrifolia (Orchidaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33: 251-258.

Davis, J. I, D. W. Stevenson, G. Petersen, O. Seberg, J. V. Freudenstein, D. H. Goldman, C. R. Hardy, F. A. Michelangeli, M. P. Simmons, C. D. Specht, F. Vergara-Silva and M. A. Gandolfo.  2004.  A phylogeny of the monocots, as inferred from rbcL and atpA sequence variation, and a comparison of methods for calculating jackknife and bootstrap values.  Systematic Botany 29: 467-510.

Freudenstein, J. V.,  C. van den Berg,  D. H. Goldman, P. J. Kores, M. Molvray and M. W. Chase.  2004.  An expanded plastid DNA phylogeny of Orchidaceae and analysis of jackknife branch support strategy.  American Journal of Botany 91: 149-157.

Chase, M. W., K. M. Cameron, R. L. Barrett, and J. V. Freudenstein.  2003. DNA data and Orchidaceae systematics: a new phylogenetic classification. Pp. 69-89, in Dixon, K. M., S. P. Kell, R. L. Barrett, and P. J. Cribb [eds]. Orchid Conservation. Natural History Publications, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

Freudenstein, J. V., K. M. Pickett. M. P. Simmons and J. W. Wenzel.  2003.  From basepairs to birdsongs: phylogenetic data in the age of genomics.  Cladistics 19: 333-347.

Simmons, M. P. and J. V. Freudenstein.  2003.  The effects of increasing genetic distance on alignment of, and tree construction from, rDNA internal transcribed spacer sequences.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 26: 444-451.

 

 

Links to other institutions:
 

L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University

New York Botanical Garden

Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen

Harvard University Herbaria

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew