Ian Gilman

I am interested in trait evolution and the resulting patterns of diversification. In particular I am working on the evolution of organ fusion in the Honeysuckles (Lonicera) and how this trait has affected diversification. I am also studying the evolution of CAM photosynthesis in the Portulacinae in collaboration with the Edwards Lab at Yale. While these traits are complex, requiring biochemical and morphological modifications, they have evolved multiple times within flowering plants. Tracing these traits’ histories through space and time may reveal patterns common to many lineages of plants. I am also interested in phylogenetic methods, specifically the problems faced by phylogenetics in the genomics age. I received my M.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Idaho in 2017, where I studied systematics of a rare genus of salt-marsh endemic plants, Chloropyron, in the Tank Lab.