I'm a curator in the Botany Department at the Field Museum of Natural History (see my staff page there). In addition I'm a faculty member on the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago.

My general interests lie in the evolution and diversification of flowering plants, especially with regard to systematics, biogeography, and phylogenetic comparative methods.

Current research topics

• Likelihood models of geographic range evolution and inference methods for historical biogeography (Ree et al. 2005; Ree and Smith in press). See also NESCent working groups on Phytogeography of the Northern Hemisphere and Developing an integrative algorithm for historical biogeography.
• Phylogenetic methods for studying character evolution, e.g. key innovations.
• Systematics and evolution of Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae) (e.g. Ree 2005).
• Phylogeny of Corydalis (with Magnus Lidén).
• Biodiversity inventories of the Hengduan Mountains region and adjacent areas of south-central China (with Dave Boufford, Susan Kelley, and many others)
• Capacity-building for research, conservation, and training in the eastern Himalaya (with Jun Wen and Greg Mueller).
• Comparative studies of floral evolution (e.g. Kalisz et al. 2006) and mixed mating in angiosperms (with Susan Kalisz, Risa Sargent, and everyone else in the NESCent working group on The paradox of mixed mating in flowering plants).
• Comparative analyses of biogeographic patterns, from the level of communities to continents (e.g. Fine and Ree 2006).

Contact Info

• Botany Department, Field Museum of Natural History
  1400 S Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, USA 60605
  Phone: 1-312-665-7857
  

• rree at fieldmuseum dot org

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Thursday, 21 February 2008