|
|
Research Interests
Professor Hufford is interested in flowering plant systematics and evolution. His research applies phylogenetic systematics to resolve evolutionary relationships and explore diversification processes. He and his students apply molecular markers in phylogenetic studies of various angiosperm groups. Phylogenetic results are used to explore patterns and processes of diversity as well as to resolve taxonomic problems and revise classifications. Professor Hufford has been especially interested in the evolution of plant form, and he and his students have examined the roles of developmental evolution in the patterning of morphological diversity. A new area of emphasis in the Hufford laboratory is plant phylogeography in the American West. This research examines the geographic structure of molecular genetic diversity among populations as a means to reconstruct relationships, biogeographic patterns, and evolutionary processes among relatively recent species groups.
Representative Publications
Hufford, L. 2003. Homology and developmental transformation: models for the origins of the staminodes of Loasaceae subfamily Loasoideae. International Journal of Plant Sciences 164 (5 supplement): S409-S439.
Hufford, L, M. McMahon, A. M. Sherwood, G. Reeves, and M. W. Chase, 2003. The major clades of Loasaceae: phylogenetic analysis using the plastid matK and trnL-trnF regions. American Journal of Botany 90: 1215-1228.
Hufford, L. and M. McMahon, 2004. Morphological evolution and systematics of Synthyris and Besseya (Veronicaceae): A phylogenetic analysis. Systematic Botany 29: 716-736.
Marlowe, K. and L. Hufford. 2007. Taxonomy and biogeography of Gaillardia (Asteraceae): A phylogenetic analysis. Systematic Botany 32: 208-226.
Marlowe, K. and L. Hufford. 2008. Evolution of Synthyris section Dissecta (Plantaginaceae) on Northern Rocky Mountain sky islands. American Journal of Botany 95: 381-392.
McMahon, M., and L. Hufford, 2005. Evolution and development in the amorphoid clade (Amorpheae: Papilionoideae: Fabaceae): Organ loss and dedifferentiation. International Journal of Plant Sciences 166: 383-396.
O’Quinn, R. and L. Hufford, 2005. Molecular systematics of Montieae (Portulacaceae): Implications for taxonomy, biogeography and ecology. Systematic Botany 30: 314-331.