Plant Biology

Catherine A. Paris

Senior Lecturer in Plant Biology

Ph.D. 1991, University of Vermont

Email: Cathy.Paris@uvm.edu

Phone: 802-656-0426

Office: 308 Jeffords Hall

Research Area: Plant Systematics and Evolution

Courses Taught: Morphology & Evolution of Vascular Plants (PBIO 108); Exploring Biology (BCOR 12); Systematics & Phylogeny (PBIO 109); Field Botany for Natural Resources Professionals (PBIO 381); The Green World (PBIO 6); Biology of Ferns (PBIO 209)

Summary of Teaching and Research Interests

At present, I teach introductory biology to students in the Integrated Biology program. I also teach a diversity of courses in field botany, plant systematics, and plant evolution. A favorite is Field Botany for Natural Resource Professionals (co-taught with Elizabeth Thompson, community ecologist), a fast-paced field course designed to acquaint students with the diversity of vascular plant species in the Vermont landscape. It also emphasizes the organization of those species into natural communities and explores the important ecological determinants of plant distribution.

Ammophila breviligulata subsp. champlainensis (Champlain Beachgrass)

Adiantum aleuticum (Aleutian Maidenhair Fern)

As a member of the Plant Systematics Group at UVM, I am investigating the phylogeography of a set of plant species that are rare around Vermont’s Lake Champlain but which are common on sand dunes of the Atlantic Coast. We are currently finishing work on the taxonomy and biogeography of the Champlain beachgrass, Ammophila breviligulata subsp. champlainensis and on the migrational history of beachpea, Lathyrus japonicus. A parallel investigation of golden heather, Hudsonia tomentosa, is in progress in our lab. My own dissertation research was a study of genetic divergence and speciation in the Adiantum pedatum (maidenhair ferns) complex and of the role of geographic and ecological isolating mechanisms in promoting divergence and speciation within it.

Botany 381 students in the field at Camel's Hump State Forest.

Selected Publications

• Barrington, D. S. and C. A. Paris. (2008). Refugia and migration in the Quaternary history of the New England flora. Rhodora 109:369-386.
• Walker, P. J., C. A. Paris, and D. S. Barrington. (1998). Taxonomy and phylogeography of the North American beachgrasses. Amer. J. Bot. 85:.
• Schmitz, S., C. A. Paris, and D. S. Barrington. (1997). Assessment of genetic variation in beachpea (Lathyrus maritimus) populations on Lake Champlain, Vermont. Amer. J. Bot. 84:230.
• Howard, B. A., C. A. Paris, and D.S. Barrington. (1994). Electrophoretic evidence for allopolyploidy in the Asplenium trichomanes complex in eastern North America. American Journal of Botany 81:130.
• Paris, C.A. (1993). Adiantum (generic treatment). In Flora of North America, Volume 2, ed. Flora of North America Editorial Committee. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Paris, C.A. (1991). Adiantum viridimontanum, a new species of maidenhair fern in eastern North America. Rhodora 93:105-122.
• Paris, C.A., F.S. Wagner, and W.H. Wagner, Jr. (1989). Cryptic species, species delimitation, and taxonomic practice in the homosporous ferns. Amer. Fern J. 79:46-54.
• Paris, C.A., and M.D. Windham. (1988). A biosystematic investigation of the Adiantum pedatum complex in eastern North America. Syst. Bot. 13:240-255.