Introduction to the Watson Lab

We are a small lab; Dr. Maxine Watson (Principal investigator), Marc Bogonovich (graduate student), Immaculate Kyampeire (graduate student), and Taylor Wahligh (undergraduate researcher). People in the Watson Lab work on an array of questions ranging from mycorrhizal mutualisms to determinants of species range limits on a global scale.  Although dealing with different research organisms and classes of questions, the work shares a common thread: how the interaction between development, physiology and ontogeny affects plant fitness and persistence. 

A number of students have worked on the clonal perennial herb, mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum.

- Lu examined the interaction between senescence timing and life history (Watson & Lu 1999, 2004)

- Ingram studied how the developmental phenology of root growth interacts with the ontogeny of infectivity of the AMF community to determine the intensity of mycorrhizal infections (Watson et al. 2002; Ingram 2004; Ingram & Watson, Mycorrhiza in press).

Two additional research themes have evolved in recent years. The first is an interest in species boundaries and range extents.

- Griffith identified critical developmental parameters that limit the potential of a widespread weedy annual, Xanthium stromarium, to extend its range northward (Griffith & Watson 2005, 2006).

- Bogonovich currently is using GIS technology to examine both biological and climatological factors affecting species range extents and speciation processes.

Our second new research theme involves carnivorous plants; particularly the role insect-derived resources play in mediating the competition within plants between life history functions: resource foraging (by mycorrhizae), growth and sexual reproduction.  This work is done in collaboration with Dr. Doug Darnowski, at IU Southeast. 

Bogonovich, M. and Watson, M. A. 2008. Broad-Scale Patterns of Richness of North American ferns at three different taxonomic levels: taxonomic richness is more strongly correlated with climate than species richness. In preparation

Nakazato, T., Bogonovich, M., and Moyle, L. C. 2008. Environmental factors predict adaptive phenotypic differentiation within and between two wild andean tomatoes. In press in Evolution

Geber, M.A., de Kroon, H., Watson, M.A. 1997. Organ preformation in mayapple as a mechanism for historical effects on demography. J. Ecol. 85: 211-223.

Geber, M.A., Watson, M.A, de Kroon, H. 1997. Development and resource allocation in perennial plants: The significance of organ preformation. In F.A. Bazzaz and J. Grace (eds.), Plant Resource Allocation, pp 113-141. Academic Press.

Griffith, T. and Watson, M.A. 2005. Stress avoidance in a common annual: reproductive timing is important for local adaptation and geographic distribution. J. Evol. Biol. 18:1601-1612.

Griffith, T.M. and Watson, M.A. 2006. Is evolution necessary for range expansion? Manipulating reproductive timing of a weedy annual transplanted beyond its range. Amer. Nat. 167:153-164.

Ingram, E. and Watson, M.A. 2007. Spatial and temporal variation in inoculum potential of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi among ramets of mayapple, Podophyllum Peltatum. Mycorrhiza (in press)

Jones, C. S., Watson, M.A. 2001. Heteroblastic shoot development in mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum, Berberidaceae), a rhizomatous forest herb with limited options. Am. J. Bot. 88: 1340-1358.

Landa, K., B. Benner, M.A. Watson and J. Gartner. 1992. Physiological integration for carbon in mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), a clonal perennial herb. Oikos 63:348-356

Watson, M.A., Lu, Y. 1999. Timing of shoot senescence and demographic expression in mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum (Berberidaceae). Oikos 86: 67-78.

Watson, MA, Scott, K., Griffith, J., Dieter, S., Jones, CS, Nanda, S. 2002. The developmental ecology of mycorrhizal associations in mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, Berberidaceae. Evol. Ecol. 15: 425-442.

Watson, M.A., Lu, Y. 2004. Factors regulating senescence in the annual shoots of perennial plants. In Cell Death in Plants (L.D. Nooden, ed), pp 259-269. Academic Press

Watson, M.A. Clones as model systems for studying the role of storage in the expression of plant life histories. Evol. Ecol. (submitted).

Last updated 2008-08-17

Marc Bogonovich