Mort

Mark Mort

Associate Professor
Plant Systematics
Ph.D., Washington State University
Phone: (785) 864-5706
Fax: (785) 864-5860


Classes Taught

Systematic Botany (BIOL 603)
Principles of Organismal Biology (BIOL 152)
Topics in Evolution (BIOL 801)

Area of Interest and Research

Reconstructing the evolutionary relationships of the angiosperm family Crassulaceae using DNA sequences from chloroplast and nuclear gene regions.

Examining the patterns of physiological and morphological evolution of Aeonium on the Canary Islands. This ongoing project is in collaboration with Drs. Javier Francisco-Ortega (Florida International University) and Arnoldo Santos-Guerra (Botanical Garden of Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Islands).

Preliminary phylogenetic analyses of the South African members of Crassulaceae, focusing primarily on the evolution of the large, morphologically-diverse genus Crassula. This project will involve extensive fieldwork in South Africa in collaboration with Dr. Ernst van Jaarsveld (Kirstensbosch Botanical Garden), Gideon Smith and Priscilla Burgoyne of the Natioinal Botanical Institute of South Africa.

Representative Publications

Mort. M, E., D. J. Crawford, J. K. Archibald, T. R. O’Leary, and A. Santos-Guerra... 2010..  Plant DNA barcoding: a test using Macaronesian taxa of Tolpis (Asteraceae). Taxon 59:581-587.

Crawford, D. J., J. K. Archibald, J. K. Kelly, M. E. Mort and A. Santos-Guerra. 2010. Mixed mating in the “obligately outcrossing” Tolpis (Asteraceaeae) of the Canary Islands. Plant Species Biology 25:114-119.

Mort, M. E., R. T. O’Leary, P. Carrillo-Reyes, T. Nowell, J.K. Archibald, and C. P. Randle.  2010.  Phylogeny and evolution of Crassulaceae: past, present, and future.  Biodiversity and Ecology 3: 69-86.

Crawford, D. J., J. K. Archibald, M. E. Mort, and A. Santos-Guerra. 2009. Pollen fertility of synthetic intra- and interspecific F1 hybrids in Canary Island Tolpis (Asteraceae). Plant Systematics and Evolution, in press.

Alzate, F., M. E. Mort, and M. Ramirez. 2008. Phylogenetic analyses of Bomarea (Alstroemeriaceae) based on combined analyses of nrDNA ITS, psbA-trnH, rpoB-trnC and matK sequences. Taxon 57: 853–862.

Crawford, D. J., J. K. Archibald, D. Stoermer, M. E. Mort, J. K. Kelly, and A. Santos-Guerra. 2008. A test of Baker's law: the radiation of Tolpis (Asteraceae) in the Canary Islands. International Journal of Plant Sciences 169: 782–791.

Carrillo-Reyes, P., V. Sosa, and M. E. Mort. 2008. Thompsonella and the “Echeveria group” (Crassulaceae): phylogenetic relationships based on molecular and morphological characters. Taxon 57: 863–874.

Kim, S.-C., M. R. McGowen, P. Lubinsky, J. C. Barber, M. E. Mort, and A. Santos-Guerra. 2008. Timing and tempo of early and successive adaptive radiations in Macaronesia. PLoS ONE 3(5):e2139. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002139.

Levsen, N. D. and M. E. Mort. 2008. Determining patterns of genetic diversity and post-glacial recolonization of western Canada in the Iowa golden saxifrage, Chrysosplenium iowense (Saxifragaceae), using inter-simple sequence repeats. 2008. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 95: 815–823.

Levsen, N. D., D. J. Crawford, J. K. Archibald, A. Santos-Guerra, and M.E. Mort. 2008. Nei's to Bayes': comparing computational methods and genetic markers for estimating patterns of genetic variation in Tolpis (Asteraceae). American Journal of Botany 95: 1466-1474.

Mort, M. E., C. P. Randle, R. T. Kimball, Mesfin Tadesse, and D. J. Crawford. 2008. Phylogeny of Coreopsideae (Asteraceae): Insights from nuclear and plastid Sequences. Taxon 57: 109–120.

Mort, M. E., D. E. Soltis, P. S. Soltis, J. Francisco-Ortega, and A. Santos-Guerra. 2007. Physiological evolution and association between physiology and growth form in Aeonium (Crassulaceae). Taxon 56: 453–464.

Mort, M. E., J. K. Archibald, C. P. Randle, N. D. Levsen, T. R. O’Leary, K. Topalov, C. M. Wiegand, and D. J. Crawford. 2007. Utility of rapidly-evolving loci for inferring phylogeny at low taxonomic levels. American Journal of Botany 94: 173–183.

Graduate Students

Current Graduate Students
Thomas O'Leary, University of Kansas, MA
Piero Protti, University of Kansas, MA
Oscar Toro Nunez, University of Kansas, PhD

Former Graduate Students
Nicholas Levsen, University of Kansas, PhD (2008)
Katarina Topalov, University of Kansas, MA (2007)
Catherine Wiegand, University of Kansas, MA (2006)
Kristopher Fairfield, University of Kansas, MA (2003)


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