Lindsay Clark
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UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences
Genetics Program
University of California
Davis, California 95616
Phone: (530) 752-8284
Email: lvclark [at] ucdavis.edu
Position: | Graduate Student |
Education: | 2000-2004: B.A. Genetics, Cell & Developmental Biology, Dartmouth College |
Research Interest: | Hybridization has been directly implicated in the evolution of invasiveness in some plant taxa, and hypothesized to contribute to invasions of many other plant taxa. The genus Rubus (blackberries and raspberries, Rosaceae) is ideal for studying this phenomenon, given that it includes a number of noxious weeds (11 in the United States as listed by the USDA PLANTS Database) and has a history of evolution through hybridization. Using nuclear microsatellite and chloroplast markers, I have identified natural hybrids of the native Pacific blackberry (R. ursinus) with both invasive Himalayan blackberry (R. armeniacus) and introduced Pennsylvania blackberry (R. pensilvanicus) in California. I hypothesize that hybridization of native and introduced Rubus in California has the potential to create new invasive weeds and also alter the genetic composition of native populations. In addition to identifying potential new invasives, my experimental aims focus on understanding the mechanisms by which hybridization can cause invasiveness. These aims are
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