The "Portullugo" is a clade of ~2200 species that live in a wide variety of habitats and are found on every continent, though they have a penchant for deserts and the high alpine (lucky us). The lineage includes well known groups such as the cacti, and less famous but equally wonderful plants like the Molluginaceae, the purslanes, lewisias, and the Didiereaceae.
We are especially interested in how C4 and CAM photosynthesis, two fairly complicated plant adaptations to low CO2, hot temperatures, and drought, have evolved so many times (~100s), mostly over the past 15 or so million years. We have worked on the C4 problem in grasses and are currently focusing our attention on C4 and CAM origins in the Portullugo, a lineage that holds a suprising number of both C4 and CAM plants.
Viburnum is a clade of ~165 species of woody shrubs and trees common in northern hemisphere forests, but they are also found in tropical Asia and montane forests throughout Central and South America. We are currently focused on using this lineage to study the evolution of leaf form and function, and in tropical-temperate biome transitions, but in reality we are pretty interested in every single thing about Viburnum.
Edwards lab members, past and present.
Principal Investigator
YIBS Hutchinson Postdoc Fellow
NSF Plant Genome Postdoc Fellow
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
Post-bac research fellow
Post-bac research fellow
Post-bac research fellow
Research Assistant
Research Assistant
Carlos Maya-Lastra, post-doc (2022-2023)
Jose Moreno-Villena, post-doc (2018-2022)
Haoran Zhou, post-doc (2019-2021)
Anthony Baniaga, post-doc (2019-2021)
Karolina Heyduk, post-doc (2018-2019)
Eric Goolsby, post-doc (2016-2018)
Zachary Lewis, post-doc (2016-2017)
Abigail Moore, post-doc (2013-2016)
Jurriaan de Vos, post-doc (2013-2015)
David Chatelet, post-doc (2010-2015)
Radika Bhaskar, post-doc (2011-2014)
Pascal-Antoine Christin, post-doc (2010-2012)
Monica Arakaki, post-doc (2009-2012)
Ian Gilman, grad student(2017-2023)
Josh Randall, grad student (2020-2023)
Morgan Moeglein, grad student (2014-2021)
Lillian Hancock, grad student (2012-2017)
Laura Garrison, grad student (2010-2016)
Matt Ogburn, grad student (2007-2012)
Nora Heaphy, undergrad and research technician (2020-2022)
Anthony Sarkiss, undergrad (2019-2021)
Haley Carter, undergrad (2014-2017)
Eric Kelosa-Kenyon, undergrad (2013-2015)
Regan Lichtenberg, undergrad (2013-2015)
Arisa Lohmeier, undergrad (2012-2014)
Joel Abraham, research technician (2018-2019)
Elizabeth Spriggs, undergrad and research technician (2008-2012)
Asya Rahlin, undergrad (2011-2012)
Alejandro Brambila, undergrad (2011-2012)
Sam Schmerler, undergrad (2008-2011)
Anne Williard, undergrad (2008-2009)
Cassidy Metcalf, undergrad (2007-2008)
Elissa Martin, research tech (2017-2018)
Kaya Schmandt, research tech (2008-2010)
Our plant-y contributions to the Dunn Lab's creaturecast website. Animations about weird and beautiful plant life, (mostly) created by Yale undergrads enrolled in E&EB 246. All animations created under a creative commons license and freely available to use in any educational setting.