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Research in Plant Biology |
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Plants fuel and dominate the earth's ecology, and their structural and functional diversity is as rich as that of animals. Plant biology at the University of Utah spans a range of scales from molecules to ecosystems and a range of questions from genetics through systematics. More than a dozen Biology faculty pursue research programs emphasizing plant biology. Their research is supported by a large modern greenhouse facility on the roof of the South Biology Building; by a two-acre research garden and adjacent laboratory building for field-related research projects; and by the 5,100-acre Red Butte Canyon Research Natural Area, immediately east of the University, which provides unparalleled access to pristine riparian, foothill grass-oak, and low-elevation coniferous forest communities. Lynn Bohs Molecular plant systematics; economic botany Dave Bowling Extension of plant ecophysiological concepts to the ecosystem scale Thure Cerling C3/C4 feeding ecology Lissy Coley Plant ecology; plant-animal interactions; tropical ecology; bioprospecting Dinah Davidson Plant community ecology; cryptobiotic crusts; plant-animal interactions Denise Dearing Detoxification of plant secondary compounds by mammals; C3/C4 feeding ecology Gary Drews Molecular genetics of plant development and reproduction, especially in Arabidopsis Jim Ehleringer Plant ecology; physiological ecology; global change; desert ecology; biosphere-atmosphere interactions Kevin Hultine Ecohydrology, Plant Ecology, Plant Ecophysiology, Riparian Ecology Darryl Kropf Plant embryogenesis and development; cell polarity Thomas Kursar Physiological ecology of tropical plants; bioprospecting Gordon Lark Genetics of soybeans Leslie Sieburth Molecular genetics of plant development; vascular tissue development John Sperry Plant structure and function; plant water relations Irene Terry Plant-insect interactions David Wolstenholme Plant mitochondrial genomes |