Dr. Molly Nepokroeff
Head Curator of Natural History Collections
Date: April 3, 2026
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: North Classroom 1003
A Tale of Two Island Systems: Phylogeography of Hawaiian and Sky Island Plants of Colorado
Studies of the biota of islands have figured prominently in our understanding of adaptive radiations, speciation, and microevolutionary processes. In this talk, I will discuss my research on phylogenies and plant populations on the Hawaiian islands in the genus Schiedea (Caryophyllaceae, the carnation family), which is one of the best studied plant adaptive radiations. I will provide evidence for chloroplast introgression from one species of Scheidea to another in sympatric and parapatric populations on Kauai and how information on genetic structure can be used to describe cryptic biodiversity in rare plants. Additionally, I will describe my plans for phylogeographic research in Colorado in the alpine “mountain top islands” with several Colorado alpine endemics. These studies will help identify past and future refugia for alpine plants in a time of climate uncertainty.