Under the guidance of faculty adviser Dr. David Barrington, Ms. Cathy Paris will employ several modern molecular methods along with traditional morphological and chromosomal analyses to assess genetic variability and trends of evolution within the geographically widespread complex of Northern Hemisphere maiden- hair ferns, Adiantum pedatum. The research will measure levels of gene differences among the several taxonomic subspecies in this complex, and will provide evidence on the likely origins of the doubled-chromosome races known in Japan and in eastern North America, and suspected to represent independent, parallel occurrences of polyploidy in these ferns. The research provides a comprehensive integration of traditional taxonomic studies of fern characters with new molecular databases, and focuses upon an interesting problem in plant evolution.
