William M. M. Eddie (Bill Eddie)
Publications | Research interests | Images of Campanulaceae taxa | Bibliography of Campanulaceae | ITS Sequences | Jansen Lab home
DEGREES
BSc.(Hons.)
Botany;
University of Aberdeen 1983
MSc.
Pure and Applied Plant Taxonomy;
University of Reading
1984
PhD.
A Global Reassessment of Generic Relationships in the Bellflowers
(Campanulaceae) University of Edinburgh
1998
1. PAPERS
Eddie, W. M. M & M. J. Ingrouille. 1999. Polymorphism in the Aegean "five-loculed” species of the genus Campanula , Sect.Quinqueloculares (Campanulaceae). Nordic Journal of Botany, 19 (2): 153-169
Eddie, W. M. M., T. Shulkina, J. Gaskin, R. C. Haberle & R. K. Jansen. 2002. Phylogeny of the Campanulaceae s.str. inferred from ITS sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. (in review).
2. BOOKS
Eddie, W. M. M. et auct. 2000. Campanulaceae. Pp. 465-496, in The European Garden Flora : Dicotyledons, Part IV (Loganiaceae to Compositae). Eds. J. Cullen et al. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Ingrouille, M. J. & W. M. M. Eddie. (in prep.). The Dance of Plants : an ecological and evolutionary perspective of plant life. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
3. ABSTRACTS
Eddie, W. M. M. 1999. Molecular and morphological approaches to an understanding of phylogeny in the Campanulaceae. Abstract 16.1.1, XVI International Botanical Congress, St. Louis, USA. 1999.
Eddie, W. M., T. Shulkina, J. Gaskin, R. Haberle & R.K. Jansen 2001. Reconstruction of the phylogeny of the Campanulaceae s.str. using ITS sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Abstract 445, p.111. Botany 2001, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Eddie, W. M. & C. N. Cupido. 2001. Some observations on the reproductive morphology of the wahlenbergioid genera of the family Campanulaceae s.str. from the fynbos vegetation of South Africa. Abstract 444, p. 111. Botany 20001, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
4. REVIEWS
Eddie, W. M. M. 2000. Review of : Luteyn, J. (1999). Páramos: A Checklist of Plant Diversity, Geographical Distribution, and Botanical Literature (Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, vol. 84). The New York Botanical Garden Press, New York. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 220 (3-4): 269-271.
5. DISSERTATIONS
Eddie, W. M. M. 1984. A systematic study of the genus Musschia, with reference to the Campanulaceae: Campanuloideae. MSc. Thesis, University of Reading, England. (pdf file)
1997 (1998). A Global Reassessment of the Generic Relationships in the Bellflower Family (Campanulaceae). PhD. Thesis, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. (pdf file)
6. REPORTS
Eddie, W. M. M. 1982a. First Impressions of the Flora of Mount Kinabalu. pp. 1-41, in, Report of the University of Aberdeen Expedition to Mount Kinabalu, Sabah (1981). University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
1982b. The montane birds of Mount Kinabalu and their implications in the evolutionary history of the West Pacific avifauna. ibid. pp. 85-108.
1982c. Conservation in the Tropics and Future Prospects. ibid. pp. 166-174.
Eddie, W. M. M. and R. C. Prentice, 1982. An Annotated List of Birds Recorded in Sabah and Brunei (July-Sept., 1981). pp. 109-148, in , Report of the University of Aberdeen Expedition to Mount Kinabalu, Sabah (1981). University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
My interests in evolutionary biology are fairly wide-ranging, from the historical and philosophical dimensions in biology and developmental studies, to ecology and biogeography of plants and animals.
7.1 The major focus of my post-doctoral research here at the University of Texas in Austin, in collaboration with Prof. R. K. Jansen (rjansen@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu), is on the molecular systematics of the angiosperm family Campanulaceae (bellflowers). I am currently investigating DNA sequences of chloroplast genes (rbcL, matK and atpB) and transcribed spacers (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA, as well as rearrangements of the chloroplast genome. The latter project is in collaboration with the Comparative Genomics Facility of the DOE Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California and is focused initially on the genus Trachelium which is thought to have the most rearranged chloroplast genes of known land plants. The ultimate aim of this research is to gain a better understanding of evolutionary phenomena in this unique angiosperm family, and to refine my 1998 reclassification. Currently, there are probably only a handful of workers on the Campanulaceae worldwide, but each has unique experiences of the family. I regard it as essential that all these talents should be combined, so I see my work as part of a larger network. At present I am collaborating with:
a) Dr. Tatyana Shulkina (tatyana.shulkina@mobot.org) of the Missouri Botanic Garden, St. Louis on a morphological investigation of the genus Campanula, with the aim of establishing a phylogeny of this wide-ranging taxon, and more rational criteria for an improved classification. It is anticipated that this study will, of necessity, eventually involve molecular investigations.
b) Mr. Christopher Cupido (Cupidocn@nbict.nbi.ac.za) of the National Botanic Gardens, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa on general aspects of adaptative radiation, morphology and reproduction in the endemic genera of the Campanulaceae in South Africa, especially the fynbos and karoo taxa.
c) Dr. John Skvarla (jskvarla@ou.edu ) of the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma on the pollen morphology of the Campanulaceae.
7.2 I also have an ongoing interests in evolution at and below the species level, particularly speciation of the genus Campanula , section Quinqueloculares in the Aegean area, the harebells of the subsection Heterophylla, and the genus Jasione in the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean. This latter study is in collaboration with Mr. I. Hedge of the Royal Botanic Gardens (I.Hedge@rbge.org.uk), Edinburgh, and Dr. Fatima Sales of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Studies at and below the species level are useful for investigating phenotypic plasticity and ontogentic contingency. The Campanulaceae provides numerous examples for these kinds of studies. I am interested in looking at evolution in Campanula from a "reaction norm perspective". The above investigations overlap somewhat with my interest in the evolution and conservation of island endemics such as the species of Wahlenbergia from St. Helena, the Juan Fernandez Islands, New Zealand and elsewhere. Implicated in such studies are the unique insular woody taxa such as Musschia (Madeira); Azorina (Azores); Campanula jacobaea (Cape Verde Islands); Nesocodon (Mauritius) and Heterochaenia and Berenice (Réunion) all of which pose interesting biogeographical, ecological and evolutionary questions. In a more general way I am interested in the the evolution and ecology of most plants, especially tropical montane epiphytic angiosperms, tropicalpine plants and bryophytes. My principal families of interest are the Lobeliaceae, Gesneriaceae and Ericaceae.
7.3 Another main, non-laboratory orientated focus of my botanical interests are the influences of Johann Wolfgang Goethe and subsequent plant morphologists such as Agnes Arber and Rolf Sattler. I am particularly interested in the development and application of their ideas (e.g. FAM or "Fuzzy Arberian Morphology" and "Process Morphology") which are linked to systems theory and paticularly the emerging paradigms of Gregory Bateson, and Maturana & Vadela (The Santiago Theory of Cognition).
7.4 Inevitably, the study of systems leads to investigation at different "holarchic" levels. I am investigating the ecological relationships of Lobeliaceae to hummingbirds (Trochilidae) and other nectarivorous New World birds, and to sunbirds (Nectariniidae), honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) and hawaiian-honeycreepers (Drepanididae) in the Old World. This correlates with my long-term interest in avian systematics and the co-evolution of plants with certain bird families such as flowerpeckers (Dicaeidae) and tanagers (Thraupidae) with the tropical mistletoe family Loranthaceae.
7.5 My current floristic and general botanical research activities are focused on a monographic treatment of the family Campanulaceae, and the bryophyte flora of Scotland.
8. TEACHING
"Plant Life on Earth"
This is a 20 week accredited evening course which was offered by the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow, Scotland as part of their programs of adult education (Lifelong Learning) in 1998-1999 and 1999-2000. It will resume on October 2002 at the University of Edinburgh, and in January 2003 at the University of Glasgow.
The course covers ecological aspects of diverse plant communities from around the world and looks at specific adaptive features of selected groups of plants, e.g. epiphytes, xerophytes, hydrophytes, etc. The main focus is on how we can comprehend the huge diversity of the world's flora by utilising the unity of developmental processes. Many aspects of the History of Botany will be discussed, including the main philosophical ideas which have influenced its development from the Ancient Greeks to Darwin and the Modern Era. The course includes at least one visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.