Jess Peirson

Jess Peirson
Ph.D. student

B.S., Botany, Marshall University, 2000
M.S., Plant Biology, Ohio University, 2003

U-M affiliation(s)
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University Herbarium

Contact information
University of Michigan
2086 Kraus Natural Science Building
830 North University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
Phone: (734) 764-1440
Fax: (734) 763-0544
Email: peirsonj@umich.edu

Fields of study
Plant systematics, evolution, biogeography and floristics

Research interests

At the broadest level, my research focuses on the systematics, evolution, and biogeography of flowering plants.  In particular, I have strong interests in the origins, development, and evolution of the flora of the Great Lakes region and northeastern North America .  Important questions in these areas include the nature of plant migration following glaciation, the establishment and persistence of postglacial plant communities, the evolution of endemic vascular plants in recently glaciated territory, and the dual roles of historical processes and current microevolutionary processes on population differentiation and lineage divergence. These topics complement my broader interests in processes such as ecological speciation and plant community assembly.

For my dissertation, I have chosen Solidago subsection Humiles as a model system to examine some of these topics.  Solidago subsection Humiles displays interesting biogeographic patterns, and many biogeographic, evolutionary, and taxonomic hypotheses have been proposed over the years but not rigorously tested.  I am currently employing field and herbarium studies, biosystematic analyses, and molecular systematic and phylogeographic analyses to examine hypotheses regarding 1) phylogenetic relationships within Solidago and within Solidago subsection Humiles, 2) the evolutionary and postglacial history of the Solidago simplex species complex, and 3) ecological differentiation, adaptation, and reproductive isolation of S. simplex populations in the Great Lakes region.

Academic background
B.S., Botany, Marshall University, 2000; M.S., Plant Biology, Ohio University, 2003.

Advisors
Christopher Dick, Anton (Tony) Reznicek 

View Jess Peirson's C.V.

News
NSF grant award
Congratulations to Jess Peirson who was awarded a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG) for his project entitled "Biogeography and evolutionary history of Solidago Subsection Humiles: Assessing patterns of post-glacial plant migration, differentiation and disjunction in North America." The $11,900 grant is for two years.

Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships awarded
Congratulations to Jess Peirson on his Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, which pays $26,400 for three terms, candidacy tuition and registration fees for fall and winter and an opportunity for health and dental insurance coverage for 2008. Peirson researches plant systematics, evolution, biogeography and floristics.

APS Lewis and Clark Fund grant
Jess Peirson, Ph.D. student, has received a $4,000 research grant from the American Philosophical Society’s Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research. Peirson will sample populations of Solidago simplex and other goldenrods primarily in western North America. He will preserve leaf samples for future molecular phylogeographic analyses and bring back stem cuttings to plant at Matthaei Botanical Gardens for future studies of chromosome number evolution and morphology.

Botany and Plant Biology conference
Dr. Tony Reznicek and Jess Peirson, Ph.D. student, organized a symposium on Great Lakes region botany for the 2007 Botany and Plant Biology Joint Congress in Chicago, July 7 – 11 at the Chicago Hilton. The symposium is titled: Evolution in a Glaciated Landscape: Contribution of Endemism to Great Lakes Biodiversity.

Reznicek presents Through a Glass Darkly – Development of Great Lakes Vegetation Occupied by Endemic Plants. Peirson presents The Evolution of Great Lakes Region Endemic Plants: Influences of Postglacial Migration and Ecological Differentiation.

Recent publications

Peirson, J. A.  2009 expected.  Collinsonia.  For: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Vol. 16. New York and Oxford (Accepted – In press).

Peirson, J. A. & D. K. Evans. 2008. The vascular flora of Sayres Pond, a remnant prairie fen in Champaign County, Ohio.  Rhodora (In press for summer 2008).

Peirson, J. A., P. D. Cantino and H. E. Ballard Jr. 2006. A taxonomic revision of Collinsonia (Lamiaceae) based on phenetic analyses of morphological variation. Systematic Botany 31(2): 398-409.

Peirson, J. A. 2002. The genus Collinsonia in North America. Chinquapin 10(2): 14.