Evolutionary Biology and Ecological Genetics
MAUREEN L. STANTON
Professor, Section of Evolution and Ecology, UC-Davis
Harvard University (1975-1980): Ph.D. in Biology
Research Interests
I am deeply interested in how the life history characteristics of plants and the genetic structure of plant populations are molded by natural selection, seed dispersal, and pollen movement. Using experimental breeding techniques, out-planting experiments, and genetic markers in weedy plant species, my colleagues and I have shown that physically stressful environments select for different plant traits than do highly fertile, more competitive environments. However, our genetic and transplant studies conducted in populations of native alpine plants demonstrated that adaptation to marginal habitats can be impeded by source-to-sink gene flow from sub- populations in more favorable sites. I am very excited about collaborating with molecular geneticists, landscape ecologists, and community ecologists in applying these past research findings to a project of great importance to plant conservation biology.
Honors, Fellowships, Awards
| 1974: | Elected to Phi Beta Kappa (Stanford University) |
| 1975: | Cap and Gown Full Tuition Senior Scholarship (Stanford University) |
| 1975: | Graduated with Honors and Distinction (Stanford University) |
| 1975-1978: | N.S.F. Pre-doctoral Fellowship (Harvard University) |
| 1981-1982: | Brown Post-doctoral Fellowship in Botany (Yale University) |
| 1987: | UCD Ecology Graduate Students' Association: Outstanding Professor Award |
| 1996: | Elected to national council, Society for the Study of Evolution |
| 1996: | Finalist, David Starr Jordan Prize in Evolutionary Biology |
| 1997: | Univ. Of Georgia Botany Graduate Students' Association: Eminent Botanist Award |
| 1998: | Fellow, California Academy of Sciences |
Current/Recent Extramural Research Grants
National Science Foundation, 1995 - 1999. Plant life history adaptation in response to environmental stresses: genetic correlations and tradeoffs (with B. A. Roy and D. A. Thiede).
National Science Foundation (Dissertation Improvement Grant DEB 9701338) March 1997-February 1999. "Testing hypotheses for proximate mechanisms generating spatial segregation of the sexes". (S. M. Eppley and R. K. Grosberg, co-PIs)
National Science Foundation (DEB-9726663) March 1998 - February 1999. "Mechanisms of species coexistence in a guild of African acacia-ants". (T. P. Young, co-PI)
National Science Foundation 1995- 2000. A graduate training program in environmental biology: from genes to communities. (with D. R. Strong and M. Turelli)
National Science Foundation (INT-9819840) February 1999-January 2001. "US-South Africa Dissertation Enhancement: A demographic analysis of life history variation and seed dispersal in the ant-dispersed Proteaceae". (C. Christian, co-PI)
National Science Foundation, 1997- 2002. "Research training program in non-linear dynamics in biology". (with A. Hastings, J. Keizer and A. Cheer)
FIVE PUBLICATIONS CLOSELY RELATED TO CURRENT PROPOSAL:
Scherff, E.J., Galen, C. and Stanton, M.L. 1994. Seed dispersal, seedling survival and habitat affinity in a snowbed plant: limits to the distribution of the snow buttercup, Ranunculus adoneus. Oikos 69: 405-413.
Robinson, G.R., Quinn, J.F. and Stanton, M.L. 1995. Invasibility of experimental habitat islands in a California winter annual grassland. Ecology 76: 786-794.
Stanton, M. L. , C. Galen, and J. S. Shore. 1997. Population structure along a steep environmental gradient: consequences of flowering time and habitat variation in the snow buttercup, Ranunculus adoneus. Evolution 51: 79-94.
Stanton, M. L. , and C. Galen. 1997. Life on the edge: adaptation versus environmentally mediated gene flow in the snow buttercup, Ranunculus adoneus. American Naturalist 150: 143-178.
Stanton, M. L. , B. A. Roy, and D. A. Thiede. Evolution in stressful environments. I. Phenotypic variability, phenotypic selection, and response to selection in five distinct environmental stresses. (Evolution) (Feb. 2000)
FIVE OTHER SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS:
Stanton, M.L. , Snow, A.A. and Handel, S.M. 1986. Floral evolution: attractiveness to pollinators influences male fitness. Science 232: 1625-1627.
Stanton, M.L. , Snow, A.A., Handel, S.M. and Bereczky, J. 1989. Effects of a flower color polymorphism upon mating patterns in experimental populations of wild radish, Raphanus raphanistrum. Evolution 43: 335-346.
Young, H.J. and Stanton, M.L. 1990. Influence of environmental quality on pollen competitive ability in wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.). Science 248: 1631-1633.
Galen, C., M. L. Stanton, J. S. Shore, and R. Sherry. 1997. Source-sink dynamics and the effects of environmental gradients on gene flow and population structure in Ranunculus adoneus. Opera Botanica 132: 179-188.
Galen, C. and M. L. Stanton. 1999. Regeneration in a heterogeneous landscape: resolving the template for seedling establishment in the snow buttercup, Ranunculus adoneus. Ecology 80: 2033- 2044.
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