U.S. South Africa Dissertation Enhancement: Late Paleozoic Fossil Plants from Gondwana: Clarifying the Role of Glossopterids In Seed Plant Evolution

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports doctoral dissertation research of Patricia E. Ryberg, graduate student in the laboratory of the PI, in paleobotany. Funding will allow Ms. Ryberg to work with Dr. Marion Bamford, University of Witwatersrand, and Dr. Rose Prevec, Rhodes University, South Africa. Ms. Ryberg's research is on the systematics and phylogeny of the Glossopteridales, extinct seed plants of Permian rocks (~260 myr) from the Southern Hemisphere (Gondwana), which are thought to be ancestors of the flowering plants. Drs. Prevec and Bamford are, respectively, the world's expert on glossopterid reproductive structures, and curator of the largest and most diverse collections of this group. Ms. Ryberg's research will concentrate on comparing her fossils from Antarctica with those from South Africa, in order to provide data for a global phylogeny of the glossopterids, and for a seed plant phylogeny. The final goal is to understand the evolution of the group and their possible relationship to the flowering plants. This project will enhance Ms. Ryberg's dissertation, and provide a basis for continuing collaboration with South African colleagues. Through this project, she will gain knowledge and international contacts for future work. South African paleobotanists will provide training and knowledge of their approach to impression fossils and Ms. Ryberg will have the opportunity to discuss her dissertation research with them. The international collaborations begun with this study will provide connections for additional research in the future, which will enhance Ms. Ryberg's teaching and research after her Ph.D. is completed.