Molly Nepokroeff

Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Institution, Department of Botany
PhD. Botany, University of Wisconsin Madison. 
MS. Botany, University of Wisconsin Madison.  
BA. Biology, Macalester College.

I am a plant molecular systematist and evolutionary biologist. I am interested in evolutionary relationships at the border of species and populations and have studied both the pantropical understory shrub genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae) and Hawaiian endemic genus Schiedea (Caryophyllaceae), as model systems to study adaptive radiation, breeding system evolution, phylogeography and biogeography. I have also been involved in reconstructing molecular phylogenies of several flowering plant groups. Since 2016, I have spent most of my professional time devoted to teaching. I am privileged to be able to share my love of evolutionary biology, plants and the native plants and ecological communities of Colorado with students in my courses. 

Selected Publications: 

Wallace, L.E., T.M. Culley, S.G. Weller, A. Kuenzi, T. Roy, A.K. Sakai, W.L. Wagner & M. Nepokroeff. 2012. Asymmetrical gene flow in a hybrid zone of Hawaiian Schiedea (Caryophyllaceae) species with contrasting mating systems. PLoS ONE 6(9): e24845. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024845

Willyard, A., L.E. Wallace, W.L. Wagner, S.G. Weller, A.K. Sakai, & M. Nepokroeff.  Estimating the species tree for Hawaiian Schiedea (Caryophyllaceae) from multiple loci in the presence of reticulate evolution. 2011. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 60:29-48

Wallace, L.E., S.G. Weller, Warren L. Wagner, A.K. Sakai and M. Nepokroeff. 2009. Phylogeographic patterns and demographic history of Schiedea globosa (Caryophyllaceae) on the Hawaiian Islands. American Journal of Botany 96: 958-967. 

Nepokroeff, M., W. L. Wagner, P. S. Soltis, S. G. Weller, D. E. Soltis, A. K. Sakai, & E. A. Zimmer. 2005. Phylogeny of Schiedea, in Wagner, Weller and Sakai, Monograph of Schiedea (Caryophyllaceae subfam. Alsinoideae). Systematic Botany Monographs 72: 13-20

Nepokroeff, M., K. J. Sytsma, W.L Wagner and E. A. Zimmer. 2003. Reconstructing ancestral patterns of colonization and dispersal in the Hawaiian understory shrub genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae):  A comparison of parsimony and likelihood approaches. Systematic Biology 52(6):820-838. 

Nepokroeff, M., B. Bremer and K. J. Sytsma. 1999. Re-organization of the genus Psychotria (Rubiaceae) and tribe Psychotrieae inferred from ITS and rbcL sequence data. Systematic Botany 24(1): 5-27.

BIOL 4345 Flora of Colorado
BIOL 4335 Plant Structure and Development
BIOL 3330 Plant Diversity
BIOL 3445 Introduction to Evolution