Erika Edwards Explained

Erika Edwards
Alma Mater:Yale University
Thesis Title:Pereskia and the origin of the cactus life form
Thesis Url:https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/
Thesis Year:2005

Erika Jeannine Edwards is a professor at Yale University known for her work on evolution of plants. She is also the director of the Marsh Botanical Garden.

Education and career

Edwards has a B.S. from Stanford University (1998) and earned her Ph.D. from Yale University[1] where she worked on the evolution of the Pereskia, a genus of cactus.[2] Following her Ph.D. she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara before accepting a position at Brown University as an assistant professor in 2007. In 2017 she moved to Yale University as a professor and director of the Marsh Botanical Garden.

In 2020 she began her term as president of the Society of Systematic Biologists.[3]

Research

Edwards research focuses on succulents and the evolution of C4 carbon fixation in plants. Her early research centered on Pereskia where she examined its physiology[4] and its place in the evolutionary history of cactus plants.[5] [6] Her research into C4 carbon fixation has examined how climate change alters the distribution of the C4 grasses and revealed that the C4 carbon fixation pathway gives plants an advantage in dry environments.[7] Her subsequent research tracked the increase in C4 grasses with increases in tropical woodlands and savannas.[7] Edwards led the working group which established the phylogeny of C4 grasses and defined the genetic differences across different types of grass.[8] [9] She uses changes in leaf shape to define how plants expend their resources during growth,[10] [11] examines plants' responses to changes in biome.[12] and compares the parallel evolution of C4 photosynthesis and crassulacean acid metabolism.[13] [14]

Selected publications

Awards and honors

In 2016, Edwards received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).[15] [16]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: August 2020. Edwards CV. February 16, 2022. Yale University.
  2. Pereskia and the origin of the cactus life form. 2005. English. Erika Jeannine. Edwards. 70234383.
  3. Web site: 2020-08-14. Executive Committee - Society of Systematic Biologists. 2022-02-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20200814175652/https://www.systbio.org/executive-committee.html. 2020-08-14.
  4. Edwards. Erika J.. Diaz. Miriam. 2006. Ecological physiology of Pereskia guamacho, a cactus with leaves. Plant, Cell & Environment. en. 29. 2. 247–256. 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2005.01417.x. 17080640. 1365-3040. free.
  5. Edwards. Erika J.. Nyffeler. Reto. Donoghue. Michael J.. 2005. Basal cactus phylogeny: implications of Pereskia (Cactaceae) paraphyly for the transition to the cactus life form. American Journal of Botany. en. 92. 7. 1177–1188. 10.3732/ajb.92.7.1177. 21646140. 1537-2197.
  6. Edwards. Erika J.. Donoghue. Michael J.. 2006-06-01. Pereskia and the Origin of the Cactus Life-Form.. The American Naturalist. 167. 6. 777–793. 10.1086/504605. 16649155. 832909. 0003-0147.
  7. Edwards. Erika J.. Smith. Stephen A.. 2010-02-09. Phylogenetic analyses reveal the shady history of C4 grasses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. en. 107. 6. 2532–2537. 10.1073/pnas.0909672107. 0027-8424. 2823882. 20142480. 2010PNAS..107.2532E. free.
  8. Edwards. Erika J.. Osborne. Colin P.. Strömberg. Caroline A. E.. Smith. Stephen A.. Consortium. C4 Grasses. Bond. William J.. Christin. Pascal-Antoine. Cousins. Asaph B.. Duvall. Melvin R.. Fox. David L.. Freckleton. Robert P.. 2010-04-30. The Origins of C4 Grasslands: Integrating Evolutionary and Ecosystem Science. Science. 328. 5978. 587–591. EN. 10.1126/science.1177216. 20431008. 2010Sci...328..587E. 17934192.
  9. 2012. New grass phylogeny resolves deep evolutionary relationships and discovers C4 origins. New Phytologist. en. 193. 2. 304–312. 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03972.x. 22115274. 1469-8137. Grass Phylogeny Working Group II. free. 2262/73271. free.
  10. Edwards. Erika J.. Chatelet. David S.. Sack. Lawren. Donoghue. Michael J.. 2014. Leaf life span and the leaf economic spectrum in the context of whole plant architecture. Journal of Ecology. en. 102. 2. 328–336. 10.1111/1365-2745.12209. 1365-2745. free.
  11. Ledford. Heidi. 2018. The lost art of looking at plants. Nature. en. 553. 7689. 396–398. 10.1038/d41586-018-01075-5. 2018Natur.553..396L. 0028-0836. free.
  12. Donoghue. Michael J.. Edwards. Erika J.. 2014-11-23. Biome Shifts and Niche Evolution in Plants. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 45. 1. 547–572. 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-120213-091905. 1543-592X. free.
  13. Heyduk. Karolina. Moreno-Villena. Jose J.. Gilman. Ian S.. Christin. Pascal-Antoine. Edwards. Erika J.. 2019. The genetics of convergent evolution: insights from plant photosynthesis. Nature Reviews Genetics. en. 20. 8. 485–493. 10.1038/s41576-019-0107-5. 30886351. 81977914. 1471-0056.
  14. Edwards. Erika J.. 2019. Evolutionary trajectories, accessibility and other metaphors: the case of C4 and CAM photosynthesis. New Phytologist. en. 223. 4. 1742–1755. 10.1111/nph.15851. 30993711. 119525986. 1469-8137. free.
  15. Web site: May 9, 2016. President Obama honors early career scientists with top White House award. 2022-02-16. www.nsf.gov. English.
  16. Web site: May 6, 2016. For botanist, road to White House led through Peruvian desert. 2022-02-16. Brown University. en.

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