William Crepet
Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Biology Section
I am particularly interested in developing our preeminence in basic plant biology at a time when progress in basic plant biology research is important to critical societal needs including: the development of strategic responses to the effects of climatic change in vital areas including biodiversity maintenance and agriculture; the development of biomedicinals, and investigations of plant based energy sources. My immediate goal has been to build strength in various facets of plant molecular biology including plant biochemistry with complementary strength in the area of plant systematics including theory and molecular systematics. These emphases will be enhanced by another immediate priority, cultivating the kind of research relationships with other Cornell administrative units that will promote and enhance our research eminence by allowing the Section to enter exciting and important areas of research that would be difficult to engage in in the absence of such collaborations or where synergies derived from these collaborations materially improve the Section's and University's positions in these key areas of research.
Interests
Plant systematics and phylogeny
Flowering plants
Paleobotany
Recent Research
With respect to my own research, my focus is on establishing a dependable fossil record for the flowering plants that includes reliably identified floral evidence. This approach is unique and informative due to the nature of flowers, the phylogenetic significance of their characters and adaptive significance. Such a record has implications for climate change, molecular evolution, hyper radiations characteristic of the angiosperms and for evaluating ecological-evolutionary hypotheses invoked to explain angiosperm dominance of modern ecosystems. Such research has implications for systematics/systematics methodologies and for the evaluation of molecular clock based timing models.
Publications
View publications on Google Scholar.
Selected journal articles:
- Martinez Millan, M., & Crepet, W. L. (2014). The fossil record of the Solanaceae revisited and revised - the fossil record of Rhamnaceae enhanced. Botanical Review. 80:73-106.
- Crepet, W. L., & Niklas, K. J. (2009). Darwin’s second 'abominable mystery': Why are there so many angiosperm species? American Journal of Botany. 96:366-381.
- Rothwell, G. W., Crepet, W. L., & Stockey, R. A. (2009). Is the anthophyte hypothesis alive and well? New evidence from the reproductive structures of Bennettitales. American Journal of Botany. 96:296-322.
- Crepet, W. L. (2008). The fossil record of angiosperms: requiem or renaissance? Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 95:3-33.
- Gandolfo Nixon, M. A., Nixon, K. C., & Crepet, W. L. (2004). Cretaceous flowers of Nymphaeaceae and implications for complex insect entrapment pollination mechanisms in Early Angiosperms. PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 101:8056-8060.
- Crepet, W. L., Nixon, K. C., & Gandolfo Nixon, M. A. (2004). Fossil evidence and phylogeny: the age of major angiosperm clades based on mesofossil and macrofossil evidence from Cretaceous deposits. American Journal of Botany. 91:1666-1682.
Book Chapters
- Crepet, W. L., & Stevenson, D. (2010). The Bennettitales (Cycadeoidales): a Preliminary Perspective on this Arguably Enigmatic Group. p. 214-244 Plants in Mesozic Time: Morphological Innovations, Phylogeny, Ecosystems Carole T. Gee (ed.), Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN.
Book Sections
- Crepet, W. L. (2013). Origin and Diversification of Angiosperms. p. 613-627 Encyclopedia of Biodiversity Simon A. Levin (ed.), Elsevier, Netherlands.
Awards & Honors
- Joseph F. Cullman Fellowship Yale University
- Top 25 contributors (of research papers) to the American Journal of Botany 2014 Botanical Society of America
- SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence (2016)
- Outstanding Service to the CALS Community Award (2015) CALS Cornell
- The Ermine Cowles Case Memorial Lecture (2012) University of Michigan
- Keynote Address (2010) International Palaeontological Congress
- Botanical Society of America Merit Award (2007) Botanical Society of America
Courses Taught
My overall view of teaching is exemplified in my teaching focus for PLSCI 6560, Topics in Plant Evolution where the emphasis is on the integration of the fossil record with evolutionary theory in an ecological setting. This course involves hands on experience with study of fossils in the laboratory giving students the opportunity to observe directly the past diversity of life. This diversity is given structure in the form of phylogenetic context-a correlate of the evolutionary process and one that incorporates theory and important developments in molecular genetics, that is then related back to evolutionary theory in an ecological setting. The course is divided into lecture and laboratory with the lecture emphasizing major issues in evolutionary biology, systematics and key steps in plant evolution rather than being solely a compendium of facts. Testing is done in laboratory to insure that essential fact based learning is accomplished but lecture exams are conceptual and synthetic in nature and require the cogent presentation of structured arguments that are well reasoned and thoroughly evidenced.
- PLSCI 6560: Topics in Plant Evolution
- PLSCI 2480: Vascular Plant Systematics
- PLSCI 1150: CSI: Forensic Botany
Contact Information
202 Emerson Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
wlc1 [at] cornell.edu
Graduate fields:
- Plant Biology
Education:
- Doctorate
Yale University
1973
- Master of Philosophy
Yale University
1971
- Bachelor of Arts
Harpur College
1969
More information: