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Welcome! » Faculty » Joseph H. Williams, Jr.


Joseph H. Williams, Jr.

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Research Interests

My primary research interests are in flowering plant reproductive evolution. In angiosperms, mate selection is a developmental process that involves physical interactions among up to six distinct organisms (male and female gametophytes and sporophytes, zygotes and endosperms). These often cryptic interactions can influence the mating system and/or the strength of reproductive barriers, and hence, the degree of inbreeding or outbreeding present in natural populations. My work seeks to connect the microevolutionary approach of looking at population-level variation in relative rates of development with a macroevolutionary perspective of seeking insights from the phylogenetic pattern of inferred developmental transformations of such traits. At present I am particularly interested in understanding what developmental changes occurred during the origin of angiosperms to facilitate the origin of pre-zygotic mate selection.

Selected Publications

  • Williams, JH. 2009.Amborella trichopoda (Amborellaceae) and the evolutionary developmental origins of the progamic phase. American Journal of Botany 96: 144-165.
  • Williams, JH. 2008.Novelties of the flowering plant pollen tube underlie diversification of a key life history stage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA105: 11259-11263.
  • Williams, JH and WE Friedman. 2004. The four-celled female gametophyte of Illicium (Illiciaceae; Austrobaileyales): Implications for understanding the origin and early evolution of monocots, eudicots and eumagnoliids. American Journal of Botany 91(3): 332-351.
  • Williams, JH and WE Friedman. 2002. Identification of diploid endosperm in an early angiosperm lineage. Nature 415: 522–526 (Cover story).
  • Williams, JH, Jr., WE Friedman and ML Arnold.  1999.  Developmental selection within the angiosperm style: using gamete DNA content to visualize interspecific pollen competition.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 96(16): 9201-9206.

Graduate Student

  • Nicholas Buckley (M. S. Acadia University) (entering Ph.D. program 2008)
  • Mackenzie Taylor (B. S. Truman state) (entered Ph.D. program 2005)
  • Tatiana Arias (M. S. University of Tennessee, 2007)
  • Matthew Valente (M. S. University of Tennessee, 2007)

Education

  • 2000 - Ph.D., University of Georgia

 

 

Joseph H. Williams, Jr.

Contact Information

Joseph H. Williams, Jr.
Associate Professor
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
341 Hesler Building
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-1610

Phone: (865) 974-6202
Fax: (865) 974-6042
Email: joewill@utk.edu