Dennis Wm. Stevenson

My major research interests in the past few years have focused upon the evolution and classification of the Cycadales (cycads) and their placement in seed plant phylogeny. To this end I am conducting research on various facets of the biology of the Cycadales and Gnetales. These facets include reproductive biology, anatomy, cytology, molecular systematics, as well as taxonomic monographs and treatments of these groups for various floras being prepared for the neotropics.

These research interests are being pursued by an active field program, particularly in the neotropics, to survey population sizes and demographics, to understand phenology, to study the recently discovered insect pollination biology of cycads and Gnetum. As part of this field program, live plants are also collected for laboratory research and for breeding purposes in order to try to save the cycads from extinction. I have recently expanded the scope of this program to include the paleotropic species of the cycads to produce a monograph of all Cycadales in collaboration with Ken Hill of the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.  In addition, I have a collaborative research program with Gloria Coruzzi of New York University on the biology of the nonprotein amino acid, BMAA, which is implicated in Guam Dementia.

My other major research interest is the systematics of the monocots, particularly, the Commelinidae and small monocot families of uncertain taxonomic affinity such as the Hydatellaceae, Taccaceae, and Thurniaceae. The topics under investigation include developmental floral morphology, embryology, and inflorescence structure because this basic information is incomplete or unknown for many of these families. These data are being combined with gene sequence data to generate phylogenetic hypothesis on the origin and classification of the monocots.

• Director and Senior Curator, Institute of Systematic Botany and Plant Research Laboratory.
• Born 1942.
• Ph.D. University of California, Davis (1975).
• Instructor, Texas A&M University (1970-1971).
• Research Associate, Fairchild Tropical Garden (1975-1976 and 1977-1978); Visiting Research Fellow (1978-1980).
• NATO Post-Doctoral Fellow (1976-1977), Royal Botanic Garden, Kew.
• Assistant Professor of Biology, Barnard College, Columbia University (1980-1987).
• NATO Senior Fellowship-Visiting Professorship, Institute of Botany, University of Naples, Italy (1985).
• Visting Professor of Botany, University of Naples, Italy (1986 and 1988).
• Honorary Curator, The New York Botanical Garden (1980-1987); Associate Curator and Director of the Lieberman Laboratory (1987-1990 ); Supervisor of Graduate Studies (1990-1993); Administrator of the Harding Laboratory (1990- ); Curator (1992-1997 ); Senior Curator (1997-).
• Editor, Fiddlehead Forum, American Fern Society (1984-87);
• Associate Editor, Delpinoa (1985- ).
• Editor, Botanical Review (1992- ).
• Book Review Editor, Cladistics(1998- ).
• North American Editor, Anatomy of the Dicotyledons
• Memberships in American Fern Society, New York Chapter President (1981-1983), Council Member (1984-87); Botanical Society of America; International Association for Plant Taxonomy; Linnean Society of London; Ohio Academy of Science; South African Cycad Society; Torrey Botanical Club, Corresponding Secretary and Program Chairman, President-Elect (1990); Willi Hennig Society.
• Adjunct Professor, City University of New York
• Lecturer, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University (1995-1999); Adjunct Professor (2000- )
• Visting Research Professor, New York University (1995- ).
• Senior Adjunct Research Faculty, CERC, Columbia University (1998- ).
• Adjunct Professor, Cornell University (2000- ).

Selected Publications

• Stevenson, D.W. 1988. "Strobilar ontogeny in the Cycadales." In: Leins, P., P. Endress, and S. Tucker, eds. Aspects of Floral Evolution. J. Cramer, Stuttgart. 205-224pp.
• Loconte, H. and D. Stevenson. 1990. "Cladistics of the Spermatophyta." Brittonia 42:197-211.
• Stevenson, D.W. 1990. "Morphology and Systematics of the Cycadales." Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 57:8-55.
• Stevenson, D.W. and H. Loconte. 1995. "Cladistic analysis of monocot families." In: P.J. Budall, P.J. Cribb, D.F. Cutler & C.J. Humphries, editors. Monocotyledons: Systematics and Evolution, pp. 543-578, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
• Stevenson, D.W. and H. Loconte. 1997. "Ordinal and familial relationships of pteridophyte genera." In: J. Camus, M. Gibby & R. Johns, editors. Pteridology in Perspective, pp. 435-467. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
• Stevenson, D.W., K. Norstog, & P. Fawcett. 1999. "Pollination biology of cycads." In: S. Owens & P. Rudall, editors. Reproductive Biology: In Systematics, Conservation, and Economic Botany, pp. 277-294. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
• Stevenson, D.W., J. Davis, J. Freudenstein, C. Hardy, M. Simmons and C. Specht. 2000. "A phylogenetic analysis of the monocotyledons based on morphological and molecular character sets, with comments on the placement of Acorus and Hydatellaceae." In: K. Wilson & D. Morrison, editors. Monocots: Systematics and Evolution. pp. 17-24. CSIRO, Melbourne.