Education Research Interests Present Research Publications Back to Faculty

David L. Dilcher, Ph.D.

Affiliate Professor of Botany

• 205 Dickinson Hall
• (352) 392-6560 (Phone)
• (352) 392-3993 (fax)
• dilcher@flmnh@ufl.edu
  Link to Dilcher Lab Web Site

Education

• Ph.D. Yale University, Biology & Geology 1964
• M.S. University of Minnesota, Botany & Zoology 1960
• B.S. University of Minnesota, Natural Science Education 1958

Research Interests / Major Research Achievements:

My major interests are in angiosperm evolution with special reference to the origin of the angiosperm flower and the early radiation of flowering plants. I am interested in the coevolution that is evident from early fossil flowers and how this coevolution was expressed in the radiation of floral types. Also I am interested in the further radiation of the angiosperms and their paleophytogeography. Some of this evolution perhaps can be correlated with the evolution of particular mammals and birds. This is also related to the migration of particular genera and families around the world. I am also working on aspects of paleoclimate, CO2 abundances in the paleoatmosphere as associated with the climate change, and biodiversity of early angiosperms in various ecological settings in relation to the biodiversity of angiosperms of today.

Present Research

The evolution of early aquatic angiosperms. The diversity of early angiosperm flowers. The migration of plants through Central America.

The relationships of North American and European Tertiary floras. Early diversity of angiosperm stamen types. Plant/animal interactions in the fossil record. Paleoecology of Cretaceous and Tertiary floras and changing climates in southeastern North America during this time. CO2 analysis of paleoatmospheres. The biodiversity of early angiosperm flora.

Selected Publications

1994. Call, V.B. and D.L. Dilcher. Parvilequminophyllum coloradensis, a new combination for Mimosites coloradensis Knowlton, Green River Formation of Utah and Colorado. Rev. Pal. Pal. 80:305-310.

1994. Huang, Q.C. and D.L. Dilcher. Evolutionary and Paleoecological Implications of Fossil Plants from the Lower Cretaceous Cheyenne Sandstone of the Western Interior. In G.W. Shurr, G.A. Ludvigson and R.H. Hammond, Eds., Perspectives on the Eastern Margin of the Cretaceous Western Interior Basin. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 287.

1994. Skog, J.E. and D.L. Dilcher. Lower Vascular Plants of the Dakota Formation in Kansas and Nebraska. Rev. Pal. Pal. 80:1-18.

1993. Burgh, J. Van Der, H. Visscher, D.L. Dilcher and W.M. Kurschner. Paleoatmospheric Signatures in Neogene Fossil Leaves. Science 260:1788-1790.

1993. Call, V.B., S.R. Manchester and D.L. Dilcher. Wetherellia fruits and Associated Fossil Plant Remains from the Paleocene/Eocene Tuscahoma-Hatchetigbee Interval, Meridian, Mississippi. Mississippi Geology, 14:10-18.

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