Dr. Dawson M. White
National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biology
Negaunee Integrative Research Center, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, USA
Associate, Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA, USA

Title: Collections-based phylogenomics and spectral classification of the coca clade (Erythroxylaceae)

Abstract: With the passing of Timothy Plowman in 1989, a thriving research program born at Harvard and dedicated to the botany of the neglected and notorious Erythroxylaceae and the coca crops came to a halt. About two generations later, I have developed a research program focused on Erythroxylaceae systematics at multiple taxonomic scales based on field, herbarium, and laboratory studies. Two most significant inferences from these data concern the spatiotemporal diversification of this pantropical clade as well as the identity and multiple origins of domestication of the coca crops. Under the goal of developing new phenomic tools for the field and herbarium, I will also present research that on the utility of visual and infrared leaf reflectance spectroscopy to classify fresh, herbarium, and archaeological leaf tissues to different taxonomic levels within the Dryas and coca clades.