People

Crane, Peter R.

Job Title Honorary Research Fellow
Department
Section
Science Teams
Joined Kew 1999
Foreign Language(s)

Qualifications & Appointments

BSc, Univ. Reading, 1975

PhD, Univ. Reading, 1981

Knighted, 2004

Fellow, The Royal Society

Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences, USA

Foreign Member, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Member, German Academy Leopoldina

Foreign Member, Royal Society of Arts and Sciences, Göteborg

Professor, Department of Botany, University of Reading

Visiting Professor, Palaeobotany, Royal Holloway, University of London

Visiting Professor, Biological Sciences, Imperial College of Science & Technology

Adjunct Professor, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Acad. Sci.

Board, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, USA

Board, Botanic Gardens Conservation International

Board, Lovaine Trust

Board, WWF, UK

Advisory Board, Royal Parks Agency

Individual Merit Promotion Board, UK Research Councils

Scientific Advisory Board, Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Austria

Member, Overseer’s Visiting Committee, Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, USA

The John and Marion Sullivan University Professor at The University of Chicago

Role

Integrated paleobotanical and neobotanical studies of plant diversity and evolution. Conservation of plant diversity.

Research is concerned with the past, present and future of plant diversity.  A particular focus is applying palaeobotanical data to understanding large-scale phylogenetic and macroevolution patterns in the Plant Kingdom, especially the early evolution of angiosperms and associated patterns of Cretaceous vegetational change.  Other research interests that have a historical focus include the early diversification of land plants and the origin of seed plant biology.  Regarding the present and future of plant diversity, I am interested in the current state of knowledge of global plant diversity, including its relationship to geography, and how this can inform practical approaches to conservation.

Projects

Pollen Evolution

Pollen of Polygalaceae

Selected Publications 2001-2005

Friis, E.M., Pedersen, K.R. & Crane, P.R. (2001). Fossil evidence of waterlilies (Nymphaeales) in the Early Cretaceous.  Nature 410: 357-360.

Crane, P. R. (2004). Documenting Plant Diversity: Unfinished Business.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 359: 735-737.

Friis, E.M., Pedersen, K.R. & Crane, P.R. (2004).  Araceae from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal: evidence on the emergence of monocotyledons.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101: 16565-16570

Nic Lughadha, E., Baillie, J., Barthlott, W., Brummitt, N.A., Cheek, M.R., Farjon, A., Govaerts, R., Hardwick, K.A., Hilton-Taylor, C., Meagher, T.R., Moat, J., Mutke, J., Paton, A.J., Pleasants, L.J., Savolainen, V., Schatz, G.E., Smith*, P., Turner, I., Wyse-Jackson, P. & Crane, P.R. (2005).  Measuring the fate of plant diversity: towards a foundation for future monitoring and opportunities for urgent action.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B. 360: 359-372.

Crane, P.R. & Kinzig, A.  (2005).  Nature in the Metropolis.  Science 308: 1225.

Selected Publications pre-2001

Crane, P.R. (1985). Phylogenetic analysis of seed plants and the origin of angiosperms.  Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 72: 716-793.

Crane, P.R., Friis, E.M. & Pedersen, K.R. (1995). The origin and early diversification of angiosperms.  Nature 374: 27-33.  [Reprinted in Gee, H. (ed) (2000).  Shaking the tree.  University of Chicago Press. 233-250.]

Kenrick, P. & Crane, P.R. (1997). The Origin and Diversification of Land Plants. Smithsonian Institution Press. 592 pp.

Kenrick, P. & Crane, P.R. (1997).  The origin and early diversification of plants on land.  Nature 389: 33-39.  [Reprinted in H. Gee (ed) (2000).  Shaking the tree.  University of Chicago Press. 271-232.]

Magallón-Puebla, S., Crane, P.R. & Herendeen, P.S. (1999). Phylogenetic patterns, diversity and diversification of eudicots.  Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 86: 297-372.