Banks, Hannah
Job Title
Palynologist
Department
Jodrell Laboratory
Section
Micromorphology
Science Teams:
Joined Kew:
1992Qualifications & Appointments
BSc, Environmental Biology, Swansea Univ.
PhD, Oxford Brookes Univ.
Role
Research into pollen morphology and development, to assist identification, taxonomy, systematics and the understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes.
Research is carried out on the pollen of monocots and eudicots, with a primary focus on the Fabales clade as part of the legume team. Pollen has been sampled and data published for every genus in the legume subfamily Caesalpinioideae, plus the putative sister families Quillajaceae, Surianaceae and Polygalaceae. Current focus groups include the legume subfamily Mimosoideae, and the Cercideae (subfamily Caesalpinioideae). Collaborations are carried out with members of the pollen evolution team, legume team, and international collaborators on all aspects of pollen identification, taxonomy, systematics, development, ecology and evolution. New techniques to examine pollen development using confocal microscopy have been developed to understand the unique pollen of the enigmatic legume Duparquetia, and other studies include research into the development and evolution of ‘Zwischenkörper’ (structures associated with pollen apertures and the germination of pollen tubes), polyads (highly evolved grouped pollen parcels) in mimosoid legumes, structure of the highly varied pollen of Bauhinia (Cercideae; Caesalpininoideae; Leguminosae), pollen characters in Alismatales (a large group of early-diverging monocots), and the pollen apertures and development of pollen in the eudicot Nelumbo (which was previously reported to have two fundamentally different pollen developmental types). Support duties involve the preparation and curation of pollen collections, maintenance of the palynological specimen database, input of pollen bibliographic references into the plant micromorphology bibliographical database (PMBD), and answering palynological enquiries. Technical duties include laboratory maintenance, providing training in laboratory procedures and in the use of electron microscopes, and carrying out health and safety duties for the Palynology laboratory.
Projects
- The Historical Role of Africa in the Biogeography of the Detarieae (Leguminosae)
- The Dalbergioid Legumes (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae)
- Malpighiales pollen evolution
- Evolution of Mimosoid Legume Pollen
- Monocot Pollen Evolution
- New Phylogeny of the Caesalpinioideae, Leguminosae
- Plant Micromorphology Bibliographic Database
- Pollen of the Cercideae
- Pollen Evolution
- Pollen of Polygalaceae
(project completed 2008) - Systematics of Dioscoreales
- Systematics and Conservation of the Tropical African Genus Hymenostegia (Detarieae: Caesalpinioideae: Leguminosae)
Selected Recent Publications
Banks, H., Himanen, I. & Lewis, G.P. (2010). Pollen, stigmas and ovule numbers at the caesalpinioid-mimosoid interface (Fabaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 162: 594-615.
Furness, C.A. & Banks, H. (2010). Pollen Evolution in the Early-Divergent Monocot Order Alismatales. International Journal of Plant Sciences 171: 713-739.
Banks, H.I., Klitgaard, B.B., Claxton, F., Forest, F. & Crane, P.R. (2008). Pollen morphology of the family Polygalaceae (Fabales). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 156: 253-289.
Banks, H., Stafford, P. & Crane, P.R. (2007). Aperture variation in the pollen of Nelumbo (Nelumbonaceae). Grana 46 (3): 157-163.
Banks, H., Feist-Burkhart, S. & Klitgaard, B. (2006). The unique pollen morphology of Duparquetia (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae): developmental evidence of aperture orientation using confocal microscopy. Annals of Botany 98: 107-115.
Selected Earlier Publications
Banks, H. (2004). Pollen structure in caesalpinioid legumes. PhD thesis undertaken at RBG Kew, in association with Oxford Brookes University.
Banks, H., Klitgaard, B., Lewis, G., Crane, P. & Bruneau, A. (2003). Pollen and the systematics of tribes Caesalpinieae and Cassieae (Caesalpinioideae: Leguminosae). Advances in Legume Systematics, 10. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 95-122.
Banks, H. (2003). Structure of pollen apertures in the Detarieae s.s. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae), with particular reference to underlying structures (Zwischenkörper). Annals of Botany 92: 425-435.
Banks, H. & Rico, L. (2000). Pollen morphology and phylogenetic analysis of Eperua Aublet (Detarieae: Caesalpinioideae: Leguminosae). Grana 38: 261-276.
Banks, H. & Klitgaard, B. (2000). Palynological contribution to the systematics of detarioid legumes (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae). In Herendeen, P. & Bruneau, A. (eds) Advances in Legume Systematics, 9. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 79-104.
Banks, H. & Gasson, P. (2000). Pollen morphology and wood anatomy of the Crudia group (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, Detarieae). Bot. Journ. Linn. Soc. 134: 19-59.
