Journal list menu
Editorial Board
Editor-in-Chief
Dr. Briana L. Gross
University of Minnesota-Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
Dr. Gross studies the evolution of wild, weedy, and domesticated plants using population genomics.
Recruiting Editor
Dr. Tilottama (Tilo) Roy
Missouri Western State University, Saint Joseph, Missouri, USA
Dr. Roy studies the evolutionary relationships within plant lineages with conservation implications using phylogenomics and phylogenetic comparative methods.
Senior Associate Editors
Dr. P. Jeff Maughan
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA
Develops genomic tools for accelerating plant breeding of orphan crops.
Dr. Mike Moore
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, USA)
A plant systematist who focuses on angiosperm phylogenetics and the evolution of plants on gypsum soils.
Dr. Gregory J. Pec
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Studies the belowground interactions between plants, microbes and their environment through a combination of field, greenhouse, and molecular methods.
Dr. Muthappa Senthil-Kumar
National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi, India
Studies molecular mechanisms for non-host resistance and combined stress tolerance of plants using functional genomic tools.
Dr. Pamela Soltis
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
Explores plant diversity, from phylogeny to speciation, using a variety of approaches.
Dr. Jill Wegrzyn
University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
Develops software and scientific databasing solutions to address questions in plant systems relating to population genomics and genome biology.
Dr. Norman Wickett
Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA
Uses phylogenetics, bioinformatics, and comparative genomics to study life history transitions in non-model plant groups, with an emphasis on bryophytes.
Associate Editors
Dr. Tatiana Arias
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Contributes to the understanding of the evolution and diversity of neotropical orchids while breaching the gap between conservation practice and academic research.
Dr. Robert L. Baker
National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
A data scientist with the National Park Service’s Washington Support Office, where he writes R packages to support metadata creation and open data publication. He is a recovering academic interested in quantitative approaches to plant evolutionary developmental biology.
Dr. Mario Blanco-Sánchez
Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands
An evolutionary ecologist who studies the importance of neutral and adaptive evolutionary processes in plant responses to climate change.
Dr. Gordon Burleigh
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
Develops resources to address evolutionary questions within plants, focusing on flagellate land plants.
Dr. Miquel Capó
University of the Balearic Islands
Studies the effects of pollination and herbivory on plant communities from insular ecosystems.
Dr. Sally Chambers
Eastern Kentucky University
An ecologist and evolutionary biologist who studies distribution patterns and responses to global climate change, with a focus on ferns
Dr. Jordan Dowell
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Studies the evolutionary ecology of plant–plant chemical communication and the impacts of multifunctional traits on biotic interactions from single cells to landscapes using various techniques, from metabolomic and genomic approaches to remote sensing and field-based studies.
Dr. Libby Ellwood
Global Collaborations Manager for iDigBio where she works to advance biodiversity data mobilization. She’s an ecologist interested in the effects of climate change on plant and animal phenology.
Dr. Katie Emelianova
University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Is interested in the genomics of plant diversification, with a strong focus on genome duplication, hybridization, and transposable element dynamics.
Dr. Carole Gee
University of Bonn, Germany
A paleobotanist who studies fossil plants as living organisms in deep time. She is also interested in applying new methods to old problems.
Dr. Karolina Heyduk
University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
Uses comparative genomics and physiology to understand the evolution of Crassulacean acid metabolism photosynthesis.On leave August 2023-August 2025.
Dr. Richie Hodel
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA
Studies how the interaction between the genome and the environment produces traits important for determining plant species' distributions and their responses to climatic changes on recent and ancient timescales. He uses approaches rooted in the fields of comparative phylogeography, phylogenomics, bioinformatics, and machine learning.
Dr. Guanjing Hu
Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
Applies multi-omic approaches to study the genotype-to-phenotype transitions that accompany speciation, polyploidization, and domestication, using Gossypium as a model system.
Dr. Vadivelmurugan Irulappan
University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
A plant pathologist whose research focuses on the intricate interplay between plants and microbes under abiotic stress conditions.
Dr. Christopher P. Krieg
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
A plant ecophysiologist who uses interdisciplinary methods to uncover the ecological and evolutionary processes that generate diversity in plant form and trait function, and how physiological diversity shapes plant ecology and distributions.
Dr. Gianalberto Losapio
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Dr. Losapio studies the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of biodiversity change.
Dr. Ed McAssey
University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
A plant evolutionary biologist who uses population genomics to study adaptation, hybridization, and speciation using field-collected samples, herbaria, and common gardens.
Dr. Michael R. McKain
University of Alabama
Uses comparative genomics and phylogenomics to study how genome-wide variation and change impacts biodiversity with an emphasis on polyploid species.
Dr. Nora Mitchell
University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA
Studies hybridization and evolutionary radiations using experiments and phylogenetic comparative approaches, focusing on sunflowers, the South African Protea, and broadscale patterns across plants.
Dr. Giuseppe Diego Puglia
National Research Council of Italy, Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, Catania, Italy
Uses -omics techniques to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying plant responses to environmental signals, with an emphasis on the seed germination process in non-model plants.
Dr. Dustin M. Ray
(University of Minnesota-Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
Studies the impacts of seasonality on phloem structure and function in woody plants, and the structure and function of leaf petioles using classical and contemporary anatomical and physiological approaches.
Dr. Luiza Teixeira-Costa
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Studies ecophysiology and morphological evolution of parasitic plants using natural history collections, microscopy, and isotopic analyses.
Dr. Maria Fernanda Torres Jimenez
Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
Studies the drivers of diversification in plants and plant-animal interactions using population genomics and phylogenomics.
Dr. Aarón I. Vélez-Ramírez
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, León, Guanajuato, Mexico
Studies the genotype-by-environment interaction on photosynthesis using self-developed hardware, Bayesian inference and modeling.
Dr. Susann Wicke
Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
Studies the genetics of parasitic plants and their interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment, using ecological, macro- and microevolutionary, as well as bioinformatic approaches.
Dr. Ya Yang
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Uses phylogenetics, transcriptomics, and genomics to reconstruct species relationships and to study polyploidy, reticulate evolution, and gene family evolution in Caryophyllales and Euphorbia.
Dr. Yunjian Xu
Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
Integrates molecular biology and ecology to explore the interactions between plant roots, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and rhizosphere bacteria.
Reviewing Editors
Dr. Arjun Adit
Centre for Functional Diversity, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
A systematic biologist interested in studying functional ecology, taxonomy, pollination ecology, trait evolution, and chemical ecology.
Dr. Monika Awana
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India
Studies the defense mechanisms of plants under abiotic stresses using epigenetic, proteomic, and transcriptomic approaches, as well as the factors that affect the nutrition quality of crops.
Dr. Guillaume Brun
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Uses (phylo-)transcriptomics to examine the molecular mechanisms underlying seed germination and haustoriogenesis in parasitic plants of the Orobanchaceae family.
Dr. Irene Cobo-Simón
Forest Science Institute, ICIFOR-INIA, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
Studies the molecular response and adaptation of forest trees under a climate change context.
Dr. Amy LaFountain
University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
Studies the evolution of pigmentation patterns in monkeyflowers (Mimulus) by combining classical genetics, evolutionary genomics, and developmental biology.
Dr. Afsheen Malik
National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
Is interested in studying and harnessing different aspects of plant reproduction for the improvement of crop plants.
Dr. Muhammad Noman
National Institute for Genomics and Advanced Biotechnology
National Agricultural Research Center, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council) integrates plant biotechnology techniques such as genome editing, next-generation sequencing, and plant synthetic biology for crop improvement.
Phebian Odufuwa
PhD candidate, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA
Studies the evolution and diversification of the over 230 species of perennial herbaceous plants in the Apiaceae family endemic to North America, using an integrative approach involving phylogenomics, biogeography, and machine learning methods.
Wagner Luiz dos Santos
PhD candidate, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
Studies the relationship of sexual systems in population ecology, ecophysiology (desiccation tolerance), and reproductive biology of tropical bryophytes.
Dr. Seethapathy G. Saroja
National Center for Natural Products Research, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, USA
Uses chemical and molecular methods for identification of medicinal plant products in trade. He also studies ethnobotany, plant harvesting, and sustainability.
Noemi Svolacchia
University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
Currently studies plant development using genetic and molecular approaches in order to unveil the role of the cell wall in root development.
Dr. Arpita Yadav
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Investigates cellulose synthesis and growth anisotropy using BY-2 cells as a model system.
Editorial Office Staff
Beth Parada, Managing Editor
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Sign up for email alerts
Tools
More from this Journal
Meet the Editor-in-Chief
APPS's Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Briana L. Gross (University of Minnesota-Duluth), studies the evolution of wild, weedy, and domesticated plants using population genomics.
Find out more about Briana's work here.
Meet the APPS Editorial Board.
