James F. Smith
Professor, Director of Snake River Plains Herbarium
Department: Biological Sciences
Year arrived at BSU: 1992
Mailing Address:

Department of Biology
Boise State University
Boise, ID 83725-1515
Office Location: Science/Nursing 207
Office Number: 208-426-3551
Office Fax: 208-426-4267
E-Mail Address: jfsmith@boisestate.edu
Teaching | Reseach Interests | Recent Publications | Herbarium
   
TEACHING
 
  • BOT 305 Systematic Botany  
  • BIOL 401 Organic Evolution
  • BIOL 517 Species and Speciation
  • BIOL 597 Special Topics: Population Genetics
  • BIOL 597 Special Topics: Introduction to Bioinformatics
RESEARCH INTERESTS
 

Evolution of Floral Symmetry in Gesneriaceae:  Recent work on Antirrhinum and relatives have identified genes important in the control of floral symmetry, cycloidea and dichotoma.  Homologs of cycloidea have been identified in Gesneriaceae known as GCYC.  Although most Gesneriaceae have flowers with bilateral symmetry a few genera have full or partial radial symmetry (in the latter the corollas are radially symmetric or nearly radially symmetric, but stamen abortion results in 4 instead of 5 stamens).  Investigations at the DNA sequence level of GCYC in Gesneriaceae with have not revealed any obvious mutations that may disrupt function of this gene in plants with  radially symmetric flowers.  Likewise rates of mutation at the DNA level and synonymous to nonsynonymous substitution rates are not significantly different for species with radial or bilateral symmetry.  The control of symmetry for these plants must lie in other regulatory genes and investigations at the mRNA level are beginning.

Phylogenetics of tribe Episcieae (Gesneriaceae):  I have initiated investigations into the generic level relationships within tribe Episcieae of Gesneriaceae using several different genes from both the chloroplast and nuclear genomes.  This study represents and expansion of earlier studies on this tribe that used only a few genes and sampled only a few species for each genus.  In the current study I am sampling more widely from larger genera, attempting to sample some of the more disparate morphological species in each genus and using more sequence data to more strongly support intergeneric relationships.  


Jim Smith of BSU and Eric Tepe of Miami University press
plants in French Guiana.

Phylogenetics within Columnea (Gesneriaceae):  Columnea is the largest genus within neotropical Gesneriaceae and all previous attempts to resolve relationships within this genus have been poorly resolved or poorly supported.  I am currently sampling many low copy nuclear genes in an attempt to identify a combination of sequences that will resolve and provide support for relationships within this genus.  Currently I am using a small subset of the species, sampling from each of the sections.  As genes are identified that provide sequence variation, I will increase the sampling to test the current sectional classification within this clade.  

For more information on the Gesneriaceae, see the Tree of Life pages.

Phylogenetics of Piperaceae:  I have been conducting research on the phylogenetics of Piperaceae in collaboration with Dr. Chris Davidson of the Idaho Botanical Research Foundation of Boise, Idaho.  Our ultimage goal is to work on the phylogenetics of the family worldwide, but we are currently focussing our efforts on two clades that have been identified as a monophyletic group by both our studies and previous investigations.  These are subgenera Enckea and Arctottonia.  We are also sampling from several different genes, including low copy nuclear genes.  The latter project is also in collaboration with Dr. Allan Bornstein of Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO.

Paradrymonia maculata from
Les Nouragues, French Guiana

Photographs on this page taken by Chris Davidson, Ph.D.

 

 
RECENT PUBLICATIONS [click to open]

 

Smith, J. F. , A. J. Stillman, S. R. Larson. C. M. Culumber, I. C. Robertson , and S. J. Novak. 2009. Phylogenetic relationships among Lepidium papilliferum (L. Henderson) A. Nels & J. F. Macbr., L. montanum Nutt., and L. davisii Rollins (Brassicaceae). Journal of the Torrey Botanical Club 136: 149-163.

Xia, Z., Y.-Z. Wang, and J. F. Smith. 2009. Familial placement and relations of Rehmannia and Triaenophora (Scrophulariaceae s. l.) inferred from five gene regions. American Journal of Botany 96: 519-530.

Givnish, T. J., K. J. Milliam, A. Mast, T. B. Patterson, T. J. Theim, A. Hipp, J. M. Henss, J. F. Smith, K. Woods, and K. J. Sytsma. 2009. Origin, adaptive radiation, and diversification of the Hawaiian lobeliads (Asterales: Campanulaceae). submitted to Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 276: 407-416..

Anderson, K. E., S. J. Novak, and J. F. Smith. 2008. Populations composed entirely of hybrid colonies: bidirectional hybridizationand polyandry in harvester ants. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 95: 320-326.

Barkworth, M. E., M. O Arriaga, J. F. Smith, S. W. L. Jacobs, J. V. Reyna, and B. S. Bushman. 2008. Molecules and morphology in South American Stipeae (Poaceae). Systematic Botany 33: 719-731.

Jaramillo, M. A., R. Callejas, C. Davidson, J. F. Smith, A. C. Stevens, and E. Tepe. 2008. A phylogeny of the tropical genus Piper (Piperaceae) using ITS and the chloroplast intron psbJ-petA. Systematic Botany 33: 647-660.

Smith, J. F., A. C. Stevens, E. J. Tepe, and C. Davidson. 2008. Placing the origin of two species-rich genera in the late Cretaceous with later species divergence in the Tertiary: A phylogenetic, biogeographic and molecular dating analysis. Plant Systematics and Evolution 275: 9-30.

Zhou, X-R., Y-Z. Wang, J. F. Smith and R. Chen. 2008. Altered expression patterns of TCP and MYB gene relating to the floral development transition from initial zygomorphy to actinomorphy in Bournea (Gesneriaceae). New Phytologist 178: 532-543.

L. Leppert, T. V. Zadorozhyny, J. R. Belthoff, A, M. Dufty, Jr., S. Hamilton, G. Kaltenecker, and J. F. Smith. 2007. DNA Sexing of Owls: A Comparison of Three Methods. Journal of Raptor Research 40: 291-294.

Smith, J. F., M. M. Funke, and V. L. Woo. 2006.A Duplication of gcyc Predates Divergence within tribe Coronanthereae (Gesneriaceae): Phylogenetic Analysis and Evolution. Plant Systematics and Evolution 261: 245-256.

Cronk, Q. C. B., M. Kiehn, W. L. Wagner, and J. F. Smith. 2005. Evolution of Cyrtandra
(Gesneriaceae) in the Pacific Ocean: the origin of a supertramp clade American Journal of Botany 92: 1017-1024.

Smith, J. F., S. B. Draper, L. C. Hileman, and D. A. Baum. 2004. A phylogenetic analysis within tribes Gloxinieae and Gesnerieae (Gesneriaceae: Gesnerioideae). Systematic Botany 29: 947-958.

Smith, J. F., L. C. Hileman, M. P. Powell, and D. A. Baum. 2004. Evolution of GCYC, a Gesneriaceae homolog of CYCLOIDEA, within Gesnerioideae (Gesneriaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31: 765-779.

 

 

 
   
HERBARIUM
 

As director of the Snake River Plains Herbarium at Boise State University (SRP), I have seen the collection grow from a small teaching collection of 30,000 specimens to a research and reference collection of over 25,000 specimens.  The collection focuses primarily on plants of southwest Idaho, but we continue to add plants from throughout Idaho and  surrounding states.  The collection continues to expand through collections of faculty and students as well as an active exchange program.  For information about exchange contact Dr. James Smith, jfsmith@boisestate.edu.

The first Idaho Botanical Foray was held in 2008, click here for a summary of that foray and updates on future forays and workshops.