CPING: The Consortium for Plant Invasion Genomics
The Latvis Lab serves as a major research hub for this large collaborative project. Our research focuses on the invasion history of prickly Russian thistle (Salsola tragus).
Approaches include museum genomics, phylogenetics, population genetics, ecological niche modeling.
Please see the CPING website for collaborators, training, and research resources!
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Plant Systematics and Evolution
We are interested in the evolutionary histories of Agalinis (false foxgloves, Orobanchaceae), Castilleja (paintbrushes, Orobanchaceae), and Salsola (saltworts, Amaranthaceae). Understanding phylogenetic relationships in these group will allow us to understand diversification, character evolution, and gene flow within these lineages.
Approaches include phylogenetics, phylogenomics, diversification, biogeography, character evolution.
Phylogenetic Diversity in the Northern Great Plains
The Northern Great Plains include one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world: tallgrass prairie. Conservation and management strategies depend on robust measurements of biodiversity. We are using phylogenetic diversity, a measurement that takes evolutionary history of species within a community into consideration, to prioritize land for conservation, make connections to ecosystem services, and explore applications for restoration and management.
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Ethnobotany and Data Sovereignty
Ethnobotany is the study of traditional knowledge and cultural significance of plants and their uses. The Latvis Lab (via the C. A. Taylor Herbarium) has an ongoing partnership with the Wokini Initiative at SDState (in collaboration with Dr. Mark Freeland, American Indian Studies at SDState). We aim to develop best practices for incorporating TEK into our natural history collections through Indigenous stakeholder engagement.
Previously, we catalogued Haitian Creole plant names and uses (particularly Vodou) while at the University of Florida.
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American Indian Student Center
C. A. Taylor Herbarium (SDC) at SDState
Vouchered plant collections in herbarium institutions form the basis for much of our research and teaching. Such specimens provide a record for plants in geographic space and through time, allowing us to track invasive species, record plant community composition, assess range expansion and contraction, etc. Our goals include broad training of undergraduate and graduate students in curation, stakeholder engagement, and digitization/imaging of these specimens for wide research applications.
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Comparative Phylogeography of the Black Hills
The Black Hills represent an “Island in the Plains”, unique highlands that are surrounded by arid prairies. Their biota is a composite of disjunct species typical of the Rocky Mountains, northern boreal forests, and eastern deciduous forest, together with lowland grassland species. A comparative phylogeographic approach will enable us to investigate the timing of lineage migration, traits that may be associated with species establishment. Ecological niche modeling will allow us to quantify the niche of these disjunct populations and compare it to the rest of their respective species distributions, while investigating how their distributions might change under future climate change models.