MSU faculty member’s research reverses long-held theories of plant evolution, reveals impact of climate change on plants
by Sam Kealhofer, Intern on the A&S Research Support Team
In a discovery reversing decades-long theories regarding plant evolution and climate, a new study by Ryan A. Folk, a biological sciences assistant professor, reveals that plant biology evolved more quickly in temperate climates like the southeastern U.S. than in tropical climates due to cooling climatic patterns over the past fifteen million years. Folk’s article, “Recent accelerated diversification in rosids occurred outside the tropics,” was published in “Nature Communication” in July.
The study is the largest of its kind to date, gathering information from a massive dataset of relationships for nearly 20,000 species with DNA data and nearly 3 million occurrence records for plants, showcasing the power of big data approaches in science to provide new perspectives.
Folk’s research uses genomic and bioinformatics techniques to leverage the unique spatial and temporal records of biodiversity using biological specimens. Another recent work by Folk, “Space, traits, and history: Biodiversity synthesis in the green branches of the Tree of Life,” published in “Nature Plants,” further elaborates on the full potential of harnessing large biological specimen datasets and computational tools for next-generation research in plant evolution and ecology.
In the future, Folk plans to use his role as MSU’s herbarium curator to examine MSU’s collection of more than 40,000 preserved plants from Mississippi and across the globe. He said he aims to chart plant biodiversity across time and space, and that he has a particular interest in investigating how Earth’s plant communities shifted from ancient tropical and subtropical climates to dominate the harsher climate zones of modern times.
Folk’s work chronicles important characteristics of plant evolution and could lend insight into how plants will respond to rapidly changing climates.
In an effort to contribute insight and solutions to the various challenges facing the nation, the College of Arts & Sciences will continue to highlight faculty research in our “Research In The Headlines” series each Monday and Wednesday. For more research in the headlines, visit https://www.cas.msstate.edu/research/researchintheheadlines/; and for information about the College of Arts & Sciences or the Department of History visit https://www.cas.msstate.edu/ or https://www.biology.msstate.edu/.