Current Projects

I am currently engaged in three research projects:

  1. A field study of how changes in resource availability affect patterns of sex allocation within the flowers of Prairie Larkspur, Delphinium virescens (Ranunculaceae).

Research students Clare Croteau and Colleen Kaster collecting larkspur flowers 
at Cedar Creek Natural History Area

2. A collaborative lab project with Dr. Jennifer Cruise to develop microsatellite markers for estimating paternity in Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis (Ranunculaceae).

3. A field study of the relationship between mating system and floral traits in three species of Bidens (Asteraceae).

Research student Karen Bresee studying Bidens coronata 
at Cedar Bog Lake, Cedar Creek Natural History Area

Recent Student Research Presentations

Croteau, Clare. 2002. Sex allocation to male and female floral structures in Prairie Larkspur, Delphinium virescens. National Conference on Undergraduate Research, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, WI.

Hultman, Keith. 2001. Development of microsatellite DNA markers for measuring male reproductive success in Aquilegia canadensis. National Conference on Undergraduate Research, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. (Co-supervised with Dr. J.L. Cruise).

Hultman, Keith. 2001. Development of microsatellite DNA markers for measuring male reproductive success in Aquilegia canadensis. Tri-Beta Regional Meeting, St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, Winona, MN. (Co-supervised with Dr. J.L. Cruise)

Mooney, Becky. 2001. Development of microsatellite markers for Aquilegia canadensis. Minnesota Academy of Science Annual Meeting, University of St. Thomas. (Co-supervised with Dr. J.L. Cruise).

Hultman, Keith. 2000. Patterns of resource allocation to floral structures in the Ranunculaceae family. Minnesota Academy of Science Annual Meeting. First prize in the Ecological, Agricultural, and Organismal Biology section of the Winchell Symposium.

Wyckoff, Meagen. 1999. Population genetic variation and outcrossing rates in Bidens. National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Rochester, NY.

Bresee, Karen. 1999. The role of floral attractive structures in the pollination biology of Bidens. Minnesota Academy of Science Annual Meeting.

Student Awards

Keith Hultman. University of St. Thomas Young Scholars Award. 2000

Keith Hultman. Tri-Beta Society (National Biology Honor Society) Research Grant 1999.

Karen Bresee. University of St. Thomas Research Travel Grant. 1999.

Meagen Wyckoff. University of St. Thomas Young Scholars Award. 1998

Current and Former Students

Niki Duxbury

Niki is a junior at UST and is still working in my lab

Stephanie Churchill

Stephanie graduated from UST in summer 2003

Clare Croteau

Clare Croteau training her research supervisor in the correct technique for 
collecting Prairie Larkspur flowers at Cedar Creek Natural History Area.

Colleen Kaster

Colleen graduated from UST in December 2001. She is currently living in Australia where she is training to be an accountant.

Colleen Kaster preparing for her future career as an accountant by entering data 
on biomass allocation to floral structures in Prairie Larkspur.

Angie Clausen

Angie is now Angie Streit and is a graduate student in the School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University.

Becky Mooney

Becky is currently a medical student at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.

Keith Hultman

Keith is currently a graduate student in the Department of Genetics at Washington University, St. Louis.

Keith Hultman attempting to pacify the angry powerpack gods 
while studying allozyme diversity in Columbines.

Karen Bresee

Karen completed an M.Sc. from the Department of Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2003.

Meagen Wyckoff

Meagen Wyckoff completed an M.Sc. in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota in 2002.

Meagen Wyckoff raising maternal families of Bidens cernua and Bidens connata  
to estimate mating system parameters in these two species.

Publications

(Student names are in bold.)

Emms, S.K., K. Bresee, S. Churchill, C. Croteau, N. Duxbury, and C. Kaster. In preparation. The effect of blooming sequence on allocation to male, female, and attractive floral structures in Prairie Larkspur Delphinium virescens (Ranunculaceae).

Emms, S.K. In preparation. Do male flowers increase female fitness in andromonoecious plants: experimental tests with Zigadenus paniculatus (Liliaceae).

Emms, S.K., and M.L. Arnold. 2000. Site-to-site differences in pollinator visitation patterns in a Louisiana iris hybrid zone. Oikos: 91: 568-578.

Arnold, M.L., and S.K. Emms. 1998. Paradigm lost: natural hybridization and evolutionary innovations. Invited symposium chapter. In: D. Howard and S. Berlocher (Editors). Endless forms: species and speciation: a symposium in honor of Guy L. Bush. Oxford University Press, New York

Arnold, M.L., and S.K. Emms. 1998. DNA markers, gene flow, and natural selection. In  D. Soltis, P. Soltis, and J. Doyle (Editors). Molecular systematics of plants II. DNA sequencing. Kluwer, Boston.

Emms, S.K., D.A. Stratton, and A.A. Snow. 1997. The effect of inflorescence size on male fitness: experimental tests in the andromonoecious lily, Zigadenus paniculatus. Evolution 51: 1481-1489.

Emms, S.K., and M.L. Arnold. 1997. The effect of habitat on parental and hybrid fitness: reciprocal transplant experiments with Louisiana irises. Evolution 51: 1112-1119.

Emms, S.K., S.A. Hodges, and M.L. Arnold. 1996. Pollen-tube competition, siring success, and consistent asymmetric hybridization in Louisiana irises. Evolution 50: 2201-2206.

Emms, S.K. 1996. Temporal patterns of seed set and decelerating fitness returns on female allocation in Zigadenus paniculatus (Liliaceae), an andromonoecious lily. American Journal of Botany 83:304-315.

Emms, S.K. 1993. On measuring fitness gain curves in plants. Ecology 74:1750-1756.

Emms, S.K. 1993. Andromonoecy in Zigadenus paniculatus (Liliaceae): spatial and temporal patterns of sex allocation. American Journal of Botany 80:914-923.

Emms, S.K. 1993. The adaptive significance of andromonoecy in Zigadenus paniculatus (Liliaceae). Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University.

Emms, S.K., and N.A.M. Verbeek. 1991. Brood size, chick provisioning, and chick growth in the Pigeon Guillemot Cepphus columba. Condor 93:943-951.

Emms, S.K., and N.A.M. Verbeek. 1991. Kleptoparasite avoidance tactics of pigeon guillemots, Cepphus columba. Animal Behaviour 41:907-909.

Emms, S.K., and N.A.M. Verbeek. 1989. Significance of the pattern of nest distribution in the pigeon guillemot, Cepphus columba. Auk 106:193-202.

Emms, S.K., and K. Morgan. 1989. The breeding biology and distribution of the Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba. In Ecology and status of marine birds in the Strait of Georgia (K. Vermeer and R.W. Butler, Eds.). Special Publications of the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Emms, S.K. 1987. The adaptive significance of the pattern of nest dispersion in the Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba. M.Sc. thesis, Simon Fraser University.