The Great Tree of Life

Dr. Douglas E. Soltis is a Distinguished Professor in the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. Prior to moving to Florida in 2000, he was Professor of Botany at Washington State University. He received his Ph.D. in 1980. Research interests include building the plant tree of life, as well as the tree of all life; and evolution and genome doubling (polyploidy). He has over 400 published papers and eight books. He was president of the Botanical Society of America (1999-2000). He was named a Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida in 2008. He has received the Centennial Award and the Distinguished Fellow Award from the Botanical Society of America. With Pam Soltis he received the Dahlgren International Prize in Botany (2002), the Asa Gray Award in Plant Systematics (2006), and the Darwin-Wallace Medal from the Linnean Society of London (2016). With coauthors P. Soltis, P. Endress, and M. Chase he received the Stebbins Medal in 2006 (for Phylogeny and Evolution of Angiosperms). Dr. Pamela S. Soltis is a Distinguished Professor and Curator in the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. Prior to moving to Florida in 2000, she was Professor of Botany at Washington State University. She received her Ph.D. in 1986. Research interests include exploration of plant diversity, including reconstructing the tree of life; genome duplication (polyploidy); conservation. She has over 400 published papers and eight books. She served as president of the Society of Systematic Biologists (2004-07) and of the Botanical Society of America (2006-09). She was named a Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida in 2007. She has received the Centennial Award and the Distinguished Fellow Award from the Botanical Society of America. With Doug Soltis, she received the Dahlgren International Prize in Botany (2002), the Asa Gray Award in Plant Systematics (2006), and the Darwin-Wallace Medal from the Linnean Society of London (2016). With coauthors D. Soltis, P. Endress, and M. Chase, she received the Stebbins Medal in 2006 (for Phylogeny and Evolution of Angiosperms). She was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2016.

I. IntroductionII. Tree of Life: CulturalIII. History of Tree of LifeIV. Building Tree of LifeV. VisualizationVI. Why it MattersVII. Spurring Innovation