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The David Starr Jordan Prize

The Life and Times of David Starr Jordan

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Loren Rieseberg


Loren Rieseberg was born in Lacombe, Alberta, in 1961. However, before he was able to fully develop his skills as a hockey player, his family moved to Tennessee, where he received his B.A. in 1981, from Southern College, and his M.S. in 1984, from the University of Tennessee, both with highest honors. His Ph.D. was awarded three years later from Washington State University, after which he immediately accepted a position as an Assistant Professor at the Claremont Graduate School and Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden in Southern California. In 1993, Dr. Rieseberg moved to Indiana University. He has the distinction of being the first Biology faculty member at Indiana University to receive an endowed professorship, when in 1997 he was named the Class of 1954 Professor of Biology.

Over the past decade, Dr. Rieseberg's studies of plant hybridization and speciation have redirected research in these areas. He was among the first to provide unambiguous evidence for widespread interspecific gene flow in nature. However, his work is probably best known for its pioneering application of genome mapping tools to wild populations and for its unique integration of historical and experimental data. Experimental replication of the birth of a new species through hybridization, and genomic comparisons of the artificial neospecies with an ancient hybrid taxon, allowed him to dissect the genetic processes accompanying hybrid speciation in unprecedented detail. This mode of speciation was shown to involve massive karyotypic change, to occur with great speed (<60 generations), and to be a more repeatable or deterministic process than previously suspected. The final result has contributed to an accumulating literature that points to the importance of deterministic forces in shaping evolutionary diversity.

Dr. Rieseberg's work, which is described in more than 100 publications, has also influenced the fields of systematic and conservation biology. His early recognition and critical reviews of the potentially confounding effects of hybridization on phylogenetic reconstruction have changed how phylogenetic studies are being performed and how the resulting trees are interpreted. Likewise, he was the first to demonstrate that rare plant populations can be endangered by genetic assimilation - now a frequent concern of conservation managers.

In addition to his work on hybridization, Dr. Rieseberg has made influential contributions to the area of plant reproductive system evolution. His group documented the first case of functional androdioecy in plants (male and hermaphrodite individuals in a breeding population) and demonstrated how this rare reproductive system in maintained despite the stringent evolutionary conditions it requires.

Dr. Rieseberg was the 1990 recipient of the George R. Cooley Award in Plant Systematics. He earned a Teaching Excellence Recognition Award last year from Indiana University. Dr. Rieseberg is an editor of the journal Molecular Ecology and associate editor of the American Journal of Botany and Plant Systematics and Evolution.


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Last Updated: 11 March 2003
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