Charles C. Davis
Faculty Support: Bridget Power
Our research on plant diversity integrates the disciplines of systematics, paleobiology, evolution, ecology, and molecular biology. One major theme that unites these disciplines is phylogenetic theory, which we apply to reconstruct the history of plant diversity through evolutionary time. Biogeography, biome evolution, plant-insect interactions, and horizontal gene transfer are some of the focal points of our work in this area. Our recent projects have sought to understand the origins of intercontinental disjunctions, the age of modern tropical rain forest, the maintenance of morphological stasis in the tree of life, and mechanisms for horizontal gene transfer. This research combines fieldwork with specimen-based studies in the herbarium and molecular approaches in the lab. Broader interests of our lab also include monographic and floristic study.
Recent Publications
de Medeiros, B. A. S., Cai L, Flynn P. J., Yan Y., Duan X., Marinho L. C., Anderson C., Davis C. C.. A composite universal DNA signature for the tree of life. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 9, 1426-1440, doi:10.1038/s41559-025-02752-1 (2025).
Davis, C. C., Kehoe, J., Knaap, A. C. & Atkins, C. D. M. Science x art: spotlighting unconventional collaborations. Trends Ecol. Evol. 40, 104-108, doi:10.1016/j.tree.2024.12.004 (2025).
Shrestha, N., Hart, R., Harrison, D., Gourguillon, L. & Davis, C. C. The human fingerprint of medicinal plant species diversity. EcoEvoRxiv, doi:https://doi.org/10.32942/X2T638 (2025).
Peng, S., Ellison, A. M. & Davis, C. C. Climate change intensifies plant-pollinator mismatch and increases secondary extinction risk for plants in northern latitudes. EcoEvoRxiv, doi:10.32942/X2VH1X (2025).
Davis, C. C. & Choisy, P. Medicinal plants meet modern biodiversity science. Curr. Biol. 34, R158-R173, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.038 (2024).
Davis, C. C. Collections are truly priceless. Science 383, 1035-1035, doi:10.1126/science.ado9732 (2024).
Davis, C. C. (2023). The herbarium of the future. Trends in Ecology & Evolution (Amsterdam), 38(5), 412–423. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.11.015
Cai, L., Arnold, B. J., Xi, Z., Khost, D. E., Patel, N., Hartmann, C. B., Manickam, S., Sasirat, S., Nikolov, L. A., Mathews, S., Sackton, T. B., & Davis, C. C. (2021). Deeply Altered Genome Architecture in the Endoparasitic Flowering Plant Sapria himalayana Griff. (Rafflesiaceae). Current Biology, 31(5), 1002–1011.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.12.045
Courses Taught
OEB 59 Plant and Human Affairs
OEB 103 Plant Systematics and Evolution
OEB 363 Plant Diversity and Evolution