Staff Spotlight
Dr. Steven R. Manchester
Curator of Paleobotany
214 Dickinson Hall
Museum Road & Newell Drive
Gainesville, FL 32611
(352) 273-1935
Email: steven@flmnh.ufl.edu
Ph.D. Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1981
Concurrent Appointments
Affiliate Professor, Depts of Botany, Geology
Research Interest
I study the phylogenetic and phytogeographic history of various flowering plant families based based on fossil remains of flowers, fruits, pollen, leaves and wood in the range of 20 to 80 million years old. The fossils are collected mainly from Paleocene and Eocene floras of western North America, eastern Asia, and central Europe. I have documented the earliest fossil bananas, kiwi fruits, walnuts, grapes, and other familiar fruits from the early Tertiary of western North America. I enjoy the detective work that is necessary in order to reassemble extinct plant species and genera from their detached fossil organs. This work provides new taxonomic and morphological data for inclusion in phylogenetic and analyses of angiosperms.
Collection Activities
My field work in search of well-preserved fossils takes me to remote parts of Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota as well as to Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, China, and Japan.
Courses Taught
BOT 5115 Paleobotany, BOT 5625 Plant Geography
Graduate Students
Judy Chen, Ph.D. candidate, Botany
- Studying the systematics of living and fossil grape family members
Elizabeth O'Leary, M.S. candidate, Botany
- Studying the diversification of winged fruits in the Eocene
Staff
Dr. Hongshan Wang - Paleobotany & Palynology Collection Manager
Representative Publications [See full list]
Corbett S.L. and Manchester, S.R. 2004. Phytogeography and fossil history of Ailanthus (Simaroubaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences. 165(4):671-690. 2004.
Boucher, L.D., S.R. Manchester, and W.S. Judd. 2003. An extinct genus of Salicaceae based on twigs with attached flowers, fruits, and foliage from the Eocene Green River Formation of Utah and Colorado, USA. American Journal of Botany 90: 1389-1399 + cover photo
Manchester, S.R. 2002. Leaves and fruits of Davidia (Cornales) from the Paleocene of North America. Systematic Botany 27(2): 368-382.
McClain, A.M. and Manchester, S.R. 2001. Dipteronia (Sapindaceae) from the Tertiary of North America and implications for the phytogeographic history of the Aceroideae. American Journal of Botany 88(7):1316-1325.
Manchester, S.R. 1999. Biogeographical relationships of North American Tertiary floras. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 86: 472-522.