Professor of Botany
Ph.D. (1975) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
608-262-2640
lkgraham@wisc.edu
Current research:
We are defining and comparing physiological traits of modern bryophytes and charophycean algae in order to:
- better understand these organisms' modern ecological roles.
- infer the traits of earliest land plants.
- interpret the ancient microfossil record.
- model impacts on ancient global C- & N-cycling.
- infer genetic, biochemical, structural, & reproductive transformations that occurred in the early history of land plants.
- design habitat restoration strategies and technological applications.
As part of the UW-Madison NSF-sponsored North Temperate Lakes LTER Microbial Observatory, we use molecular methods to:
- characterize the structure and function of prokaryotic communities associated with freshwater algae.
- evaluate newly-isolated protists, including taxa new to science, that illuminate early eukaryotic diversification and the evolutionary impacts of endosymbiosis.
In engineering collaborations, we are evaluating the use of particular algae as biofuels feedstocks & in environmental remediation.
Teaching:
Algae, bryophytes, non-majors botany, majors biology (cell biology, genetics, evolution, & diversity).
Recent Publications:
Graham, L, J Graham & L Wilcox. 2009. Algae, 2e. Benjamin Cummings (Pearson), San Francisco, CA.
Kim, E & L Graham. 2008. EEF2 analysis challenges the monophyly of Archaeplastida and Chromalveolata. PloS One 3(7): e2621.
Brooker, R, Widmeier, E, Graham, L, & Stiling, P. 2008 Biology. McGraw Hill, Dubuque, IA.
Graham, L, Wilcox, L, & Graham, J. 2006 Plant Biology. Pearson, San Francisco, CA.
Kim, E, Simpson, AGB & Graham, LE 2006 Evolutionary relationships of apusomonads inferred from taxon-rich analyses of 6 nuclear encoded genes. Mol. Biol. Evol. 23:2455-66.
Kim, E, Wilcox, L, Fawley, MW & Graham, LE 2006 Phylogenetic position of the green flagellate Mesostigma viride based on alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin gene sequences. Int. J. Plant Sci. 167: 873-883
Kim, E, Wilcox, L, Graham, L, & Graham, J. 2004. Genetically distinct populations of Peridinium limbatum in neighboring Northern Wisconsin lakes. Microbial Ecology 48:521-7.
Graham, JM, Kent, AD, Lauster, GH, Yannarell, AC, Graham, LE, Kratz, TK, & Triplett, EW. 2004. Seasonal dynamics of phytoplankton and protozoan communities in a northern temperate humic lake: Diversity in a dinoflagellate dominated system. Microbial Ecology 48:521-7.
Graham, LE, Wilcox, LW, Cook, ME & Gensel, PG 2004 Resistant tissues of marchantioid liverworts resemble enigmatic Early Paleozoic microssils. PNAS 101:11025-9.