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The University of British Columbia Department of Botany #3529 – 6270 University Boulevard Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z4 Tel: (604) 822-2133 Fax: (604) 822-6089 March 14, 2019 BSA Council Dear Council Members, It is with great pleasure that I nominate Professor Richard Abbott to be a Corresponding Member of the Botanical Society of America. I view Professor Abbott as an international leader in the areas of plant hybridization and phylogeography. His work is notable for its high quality, thoroughness, and careful and nuanced interpretations of results. Also, included in this nomination package is a letter of support from Corresponding Member Dianne Edwards CBE FRS, who is a Distinguished Research Professor at Cardiff University, along with Richard’s CV. Below I highlight several of Prof. Abbott’s most important contributions, as well as the characteristics of his work that I particularly admire. Prof. Abbott is probably best known for his careful elucidation of the reticulate history of Senecio (ragworts and groundsels) of the British Isles. His studies of the Senecio system have combined careful analyses of historical plant distribution records in the UK, with data from ecological experiments, developmental genetics, and population genetic and genomic analyses. This multidisciplinary approach is powerful, and Prof. Abbot’s work has revealed several examples of plant speciation in real time (and there aren’t very many of these). Key findings include (1) the discovery and careful documentation of the homoploid hybrid origin of the Oxford ragwort from two Sicilian Senecio species (Watsonia 2000; Evolution 2005; (2) the demonstration that the radiate groundsel has been multiply derived by introgression of the RAY locus from Oxford ragwort into the selfing common groundsel (Heredity 1992; American Journal of Botany 2000); (3) with Enrico Coen the determination that a CYCLOIDEA homolog underlies the RAY locus (Science 2008); (4) the finding that the polyploid Welsh groundsel arose multiple times in the 20th century, also by hybridization between Oxford ragwort and common groundsel (American Journal of Botany 1996; Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 2004); and (5) with Simon Hiscock the discovery that “transcriptome shock” associated with hybridization can be ameliorated by genome duplication (Current Biology 2006). The Oxford ragwort is arguably the most convincing case of homoploid hybrid speciation in either plants or animals. Indeed, at the time this work was underway, there was still skepticism regarding whether homploid hybrid speciation occurred in nature. Prof. Abbott’s work helped settle this debate. Likewise, the introgressive origin of radiate groundsels represents one of the first well-documented examples of adaptive introgression, and I believe the first case in plants where the gene underlying the introgressed phenotype was identified and functionally characterized. Lastly, his work on gene expression in hybrid and polyploid plants has been important in understanding the evolutionary and functional genomic consequences of hybrid and polploid speciation – why, for example, genomic changes associated with diploid hybrids appear to be greater than those accompanying polyploid hybridization. More generally, I have appreciated Prof. Abbot’s careful and nuanced treatment of the possible consequences of hybridization. Debates about the role of hybridization in evolution over the past century have been speculative and unnecessarily polarized. Prof. Abbot has always been careful not to make unsubstantiated claims that go beyond the data. I should also note that in addition to his empirical work, Prof. Abbot has made key conceptual contributions to our understanding of the role of hybridization in evolution. The most important of these, in my opinion, was his 1992 TREE review, where he made a convincing case for a strong linkage between hybridization and the evolution of invasive species. Although I am most qualified to discuss Prof. Abbott’s contribution to our understanding of plant hybridization and speciation, he has contributed importantly to the field of plant phylogeography as well. The work that stands out most prominently are his studies of the origins of the Arctic flora (Science 2000; Molecular Ecology 2003; New Phytologist 2016), where he overturned the long held assumption that the Arctic flora is mainly derived from ancestors that occurred at high altitudes in the South during the Tertiary. Based on molecular phylogeographic evidence, however, Prof. Abbot showed that some plant refugia were located in the Arctic itself. Another major assumption was that the Arctic was an evolutionary icebox, but Prof. Abbott discovered that evolutionary change, especially via polyploidization, is occurring very rapidly in the Arctic, with some polyploidization events taking place since the past glaciation. More recently, he has extended his phylogeographic focus to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in eastern Asia, where he has tied increased diversification rates to major uplifts occurring from the early Miocene to the Pleistocene (Molecular Ecology 2005; Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 2006; Molecular Ecology 2014). In my view, Prof. Abbott has been a highly influential figure in the development of our understanding of plant phylogeography, hybridization, and speciation. In the absence of his contributions, we would know much less about the evolutionary consequences of hybridization or the origins of world’s floras. He is highly deserving of this honor. Sincerely, Loren H. Rieseberg FRS, FRSC Director, Biodiversity Research Centre University Killam Professor of Botany March 12, 2019 Council Botanical Society of America Dear Council Members, I am pleased to support the nomination of Dr Richard Abbott as a Corresponding Member of the Botanical Society of America. I have known Dr Abbott as a highly regarded colleague for at least forty years although our interests in historical botany are worlds apart. He is particularly well known in the UK for his work on the origins and rapid evolution via hybridisation of European and especially UK species of Senecio-- this has become a classic model of the processes involved. His work on historical biogeography of plant species in a wide range of habitats--Arctic, alpine, Mediterranean and temperate—that has emphasised the role of geographic migrations and evolutionary responses, eg to past climate change, has been ground breaking and world leading. It has involved collaboration with international experts especially in China and produced excellent paper published in international journals of the highest order. He began his researches using what now might be regarded as utilising traditional morphological and genetic approaches, but he has more recently embraced the transformation in plant sciences that has ensued in the fields of molecular genetics involving, inter alia, the ubiquitous model plant Arabidopsis, the identification of the genomic and transcriptomic changes during the origin of his Senecio species, including the genes of adaptive significance, as well as the genes influencing the complex floral development in the Asteraceae. His work continues in retirement. I should also add that although botanically active, throughout his career he has been an active citizen scientist both in his community as a referee and editor -- in my experience he never turned down a request-- and has always responded favourably when sought for his advice or support for younger members. Finally the award of corresponding membership from America to a person of his distinction in the UK would also emphasise the importance of his discipline and the continuing need for his approaches to understanding the evolution of plants at a time when there are increasing pressures on funding in what can be seen by some funders as an unfashionable discipline! Dianne Edwards CBE FRS Distinguished Research Professor Cardiff University 1 Curriculum Vitae – Richard Abbott Date and place of birth: 22 June 1945, London, UK Address: School of Biology Email: [email protected] University of St Andrews Tel: +44 (0)1334 463350 St Andrews Fax: +44 (0)1334 463366 Fife KY16 9TH, UK Current post: Emeritus Professor (since 2014) Web sites: http://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/contact/staffProfile.aspx?sunid=rja https://openwetware.org/wiki/User:Richard_J._Abbott Education & Career 1949-56. St Peter’s London Docks Primary School, London 1956-64. Westminster City Grammar School, London 1964-67. B.Sc. Hons, Agricultural Botany, Bangor University 1967-71. D.Phil., University of Oxford 1971-93. Lecturer, University of St Andrews 1993-99. Senior Lecturer, University of St Andrews 1999-2004 Reader, University of St Andrews 2004-14 Professor, University of St Andrews 2014-> Emeritus Professor, University of St Andrews Research Summary My research interests are in Plant Evolution. I am especially interested in adaptive divergence and how plant species originate. I have focused on the genetic and evolutionary consequences of interspecific hybridization and the historical biogeography of plant species in arctic, alpine, Mediterranean and temperate environments. My research is at the interface of population genetics and molecular systematics, and encompasses the study of adaptation, population divergence, speciation, mating system evolution, reproductive isolation, and floral trait development. § Published 180 research papers in a wide range of peer reviewed journals and books including, Science, Nature Communications, Proceedings National Academy