In His Footsteps
The work of The New York Botanical Garden's science staff is conducted within the framework of Charles Darwin's world-changing theory of evolution.
Darwin's research transformed botany into an evolutionary science. One of his most important contributions was demonstrating that the diversity of flowers we see today is a product of evolution. Garden scientist Larry Kelly is focusing his own research on the evolution of flowering plants, with a particular interest in looking at evolutionary questions in the plant family to which the wild gingers (Asarum spp.) belong.
The theory of evolution by natural selection that Darwin developed remains the context within which the Garden's scientists work to make new discoveries and understand the world around us. Garden scientist Ken Karol is studying the origin of land plants. The evolution of land plants from their green algal ancestor was unquestionably a pivotal event in the history of life on Earth.
New tools and techniques now allow us to answer questions about evolution that Darwin never could. Without the evolutionary development of the seed, flowering plants would not have arisen on Earth. Garden scientist Dennis Stevenson is using DNA analysis to help discover how evolutionary changes in the gene structure and function of plants relates to the origin, development, and modification of the seed.
View current research of these and other Garden scientists.
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