Dr. Kelly Matsunaga

I investigate plant evolution, phylogeny, and diversity through time using living plants and the fossil record. How has plant form and diversity changed through time? What major patterns and processes underlie plant evolution? How have biotic and abiotic processes influenced the diversification of plant lineages? Living and fossil organisms provide complementary perspectives on these fundamental questions, and together have enormous potential for elucidating plant macroevolution. I approach these types of questions for a variety of groups and time periods using multifaceted approaches that combine methods from multiple fields, including descriptive paleobotany, histology, X-ray tomography, comparative methods, and phylogenetics.