Ecotax Announcement

"Biology and biodiversity of Malesian Annonaceae (Custard apple family)"

Prof. David M. Johnson
Professor of the Department of Botany-Microbiology &
Director of Jason Swallen Herbarium,
Ohio Wesleyan University,
Delaware, Ohio, USA

Thursday, 5th June 2003: 7.00pm - 8.30pm

Auditorium (3rd floor) Geylang East Community Library
(near Aljunied MRT Station)
free parking space available
See map

Abstract
"The flowering plant family Annonaceae is found worldwide throughout the humid tropics, but nearly one-third of its genera and one-half of its species are found in the Malesian region. Because of their status as a relatively primitive group of flowering plants, the Annonaceae have received much scientific interest and study to date, but there is still much to discover about their basic biology. The diversity of Malesian Annonaceae will be presented and placed in the context of the family as it occurs elsewhere in the paleo- and neotropics, and some promising areas for future field research will be outlined. Recent molecular evidence supporting the taxonomic groupings in the family will also be discussed."
 

About the speaker
Prof. David M. Johnson got his Ph. D. in Botany from the University of Michigan in 1985, and accepted a post-doctoral appointment at the New York Botanical Garden from 1986-1989. He became an Assistant Professor at the Department of Botany-Microbiology at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, USA, in 1989. Currently he is a Professor of Botany-Microbiology and Director of the Jason Swallen Herbarium at Ohio Wesleyan University.

The speaker has worked on the fern genus Marsilea for his Ph D dissertation and shifted his interest to the study of the flowering plant systematics, focusing on the family Annonaceae. He has done extensive field work in tropical America, East Africa, and most recently in Thailand. He is the author or co-author of nearly 30 professional publications on plant systematics, focusing primarily on the fern genus Marsilea and the flowering plant family Annonaceae.

He is recently on a research vist to Thailand and other parts of SE Asia courtesy of a Fulbright Research Fellowship from the U. S. government.

ALL ARE WELCOME!

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