NYBG.org: Dennis Wm. Stevenson Profile


	Science Home ... About Us ... Scientists ... Profile


	Web Sites

	The Cycad Pages The Plant Genomics Consortium Plant Systematics Botanical Classics - Cycadeae quaedam Americanae. F.A.W. Miquel describes several American Zamia and Dioon. Morphology Classics: Marie Stopes - Adventitious budding and branching in Cycas. Morphology Classics - Eduard Strasburger on Taxus embryology Botanical Classics – Prodromus Systematis Cycadearum. F.A. Miquel. 1861. Botanical Classics - Monographia Cycadearum. F. A. G. Miquel. 1842. Botanical Classics - Analecta Botanica Indica Volume 1. F. A. G. Miquel. 1850. Morphology Classics - Sherwin Carlquist . Towards Acceptable Evolutionary Interpretations of Floral Anatomy Morphology Classics - Carl Wilson: The Telome Theory Morphology Classics - Hofmeister on the Higher Cryptogamia Morphology Classics - J.D. Hooker on Welwitschia Morphology Classics-Miyake on Cycad Spermatozoids Morphology Classics - Robert Brown on the embryo development of Coniferae Morphology Classics - Robert Brown on the female flower in Cycadeae and Coniferae Scientific Classics - Robert Brown on microscopical observations of active molecules (Brownian motion) Morphology Classics - A. W. Eichler on Dioon spinulosum Morphology Classics - Marie Stopes on the double nature of the Cycadean integument Morphology Classics - Hugo Mohl on the structure of Cycad trunks and a comparison to those of conifers and tree-ferns

Dennis Wm. Stevenson

Vice President and Rupert Barneby Curator for Botanical Science Editor, Botanical Review
Ph.D., University of California
Davis (1975)
Expertise: Cycads, Monocots, Genomics

dws@nybg.org

Stevenson CV

Profile

My major research interests in the past few years have focused upon the evolution and classification of the Cycadales (cycads) and their placement in seed plant phylogeny. To this end I am conducting research on various facets of the biology of the Cycadales and Gnetales. These facets include reproductive biology, anatomy, cytology, molecular systematics, as well as taxonomic monographs and treatments of these groups for various floras being prepared for the neotropics. These research interests are being pursued by an active field program, particularly in the neotropics, to survey population sizes and demographics, to understand phenology, to study the recently discovered insect pollination biology of cycads and Gnetum. As part of this field program, live plants are also collected for laboratory research and for breeding purposes in order to try to save the cycads from extinction. I have recently expanded the scope of this program to include the paleotropic species of the cycads to produce a monograph of all Cycadales in collaboration with Ken Hill of the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. In addition, I have a collaborative research program with Gloria Coruzzi of New York University on the biology,syntheisis, and genetic control of the nonprotein amino acid, BMAA, which is implicated in Guam Dementia. I am part of the Plant Genomics Consortium and am conducting research, with the other consortium members, on the origin, development, and modification of the seed with a focus on the integuments and arils as well as heterospory. My other major research interest is the systematics of the monocots, particularly, the Commelinidae. The topics under investigation include developmental floral morphology, embryology, and inflorescence structure because this basic information is incomplete or unknown for many of these families. These data are being combined with gene sequence data to generate phylogenetic hypothesis on the origin and classification of the monocots.

Selected Publications

Stevenson, D.W. 1988. "Strobilar ontogeny in the Cycadales." In: Leins, P., P. Endress, and S. Tucker, eds. Aspects of Floral Evolution. J. Cramer, Stuttgart. 205-224pp.

Loconte, H. and D. Stevenson. 1990. "Cladistics of the Spermatophyta." Brittonia 42:197-211.

Stevenson, D.W. 1990. "Morphology and Systematics of the Cycadales." Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 57:8-55.

Stevenson, D.W. and H. Loconte. 1995. "Cladistic analysis of monocot families." In: P.J. Budall, P.J. Cribb, D.F. Cutler & C.J. Humphries, editors. Monocotyledons: Systematics and Evolution, pp. 543-578, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Stevenson, D.W. and H. Loconte. 1997. "Ordinal and familial relationships of pteridophyte genera." In: J. Camus, M. Gibby & R. Johns, editors. Pteridology in Perspective, pp. 435-467. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Stevenson, D.W., K. Norstog, & P. Fawcett. 1999. "Pollination biology of cycads." In: S. Owens & P. Rudall, editors. Reproductive Biology: In Systematics, Conservation, and Economic Botany, pp. 277-294. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Stevenson, D.W., J. Davis, J. Freudenstein, C. Hardy, M. Simmons and C. Specht. 2000. "A phylogenetic analysis of the monocotyledons based on morphological and molecular character sets, with comments on the placement of Acorus and Hydatellaceae." In: K. Wilson & D. Morrison, editors. Monocots: Systematics and Evolution. pp. 17-24. CSIRO, Melbourne.

Daly, D., K. Cameron, & D. Stevenson. 2001. Plant systematics in the age of genomics. Pl. Physiol. 127: 1328-1333.

Stevenson, D. 2001. Cycadales. Flora de Colombia 21: 1-92.

Brenner, E., D. Stevenson, & R. Twigg. 2003. Cycads: Evolutionary innovations and the role of plant-derived neurotoxins. Trends in Plant Science 8: 446-452.

Davis, J., D. Stevenson, G. Petersen, O. Seberg, L. Campbell, J. Freudenstein, D. Goldman, C. Hardy, F. Michelangeli, M. Simmons, C. Specht, F. Vergara Silva, & M. 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. Syst. Bot. 29: 467-510.

Artabe, A., A. Zamuner, & D. Stevenson. 2004. Two new petrified cycad stems, Brunoa gen. nov. And Worsdellia gen. nov., from the Cretaceous of Patagonia (Bajo De Santa Rosa, Province of Rio Negro), Argentina. Bot. Rev. 70: 121-133.

Smith, N., S. Mori, A Henderson, D. Stevenson, & S. Heald (eds.). 2004. Flowering Plants of the Neotropics. 594 pp. Princeton University, Press, Princeton.