Frontier Botany

The Ickert-Bond Lab is at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Department of Biology & Wildlife. We are also affiliated with the Institute of Arctic Biology. Our research interests focus on understanding the phylogenetic relationship, biogeography, and gene evolution in lineages of lichens, ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering plants to infer historical evolutionary processes that have resulted in current patterns of biodiversity. Our research program integrates molecular approaches with original field studies, morphology, anatomy, paleobotany, and developmental studies relying on living collections. We use these techniques in a phylogenetic framework to 1) address questions about processes at the macro-evolutionary levels, 2) to unravel the evolutionary and biogeographic origins of the Eastern Asian – Western North American floristic pattern, and 3) to address diversification dynamics by looking at trait-evolution, plant-animal interactions and niche evolution.

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