Laport Lab

Published Papers

Mentored Students are Underlined

Gerstner, B.P., R.G. Laport, J.A. Rudgers, K.D. Whitney. 2024. Plant-soil microbe feedbacks depend on distance and ploidy in a mixed cytotype population of Larrea tridentata. American Journal of Botany. dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16298. Invited contribution to the joint special issues of the American Journal of Botany and Applications in Plant Sciences: "Twice as Nice: New Techniques and Discoveries in Polyploid Biology."

Gerstner, B., M. Mann, R.G. Laport, K.D. Whitney. 2023. Differentiation of rhizosphere fungal assemblages by host ploidy level in mixed-ploidy Larrea tridentata populations. Oikos. dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.09856. Invited contribution to the special issue "The Role of Whole Genome Duplication in Evolutionary Ecology."

Laport, R.G., Z.S. Brookover, B.D. Christman, J. Ng, K. Philley, and J. Hill Craddock. 2022. Environmental niche and demographic modeling of American chestnut near its southwestern range limit. The American Midland Naturalist 188: 137-176. dx.doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031-188.2.137.

Laport, R.G., R.L. Minckley, and D. Pilson. 2021. Pollinator assemblage and pollen load differences on sympatric diploid and tetraploid cytotypes of the desert-dominant Larrea tridentata. American Journal of Botany 108(2): 297-308. dx.doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1605. Invited contribution to the special issue "Life Without Water."

Weaver, W., J. Ng, and R.G. Laport. 2020. LeafMachine: Using machine learning to automate phenotypic trait extraction from herbarium specimens. Applications in Plant Sciences 8(6): e11367.  dx.doi.org/10.1002/aps3.11367. Invited contribution to the special issue "Machine Learning in Plant Biology: Advances Using Herbarium Specimen Images."

Laport, R.G., D. Smith, and J. Ng. 2020. Remnant American chestnut (Castanea dentata) near the historical western range limit in southwestern Tennessee. Castanea 85(2): 232-243. dx.doi.org/10.2179/0008-7475.85.2.232.

Laport, R.G. 2020. Remnant American chestnut (Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.; Fagaceae) in upland forests of western New York. Proceedings of the Rochester Academy of Science 21(2): 5-14.

O'Connor, T.K., R.G. Laport, and N.K. Whiteman. 2019. Polyploidy in creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) shapes the distribution and diversity gradients of specialist herbivores. Journal of Biogeography 46: 597-610. dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13490.

Ng, J., W. Weaver, and R.G. Laport. 2019. Testing Darwin's naturalization conundrum using phylogenetic relationships: generalizable patterns across disparate communities. Diversity and Distributions 25: 361-373. dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12861.

Gaynor, M., J. Ng, and R.G. Laport. 2018. Phylogenetic structure of plant communities: are polyploids distantly related to co-occurring diploids? Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 6: 52. dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2018.00052. Invited contribution to the special issue "Polyploid Population Genetics and Evolution - From Theory to Practice."

Laport, R.G., J. Ng. 2017. Out of one, many: the biodiversity considerations of polyploidy. American Journal of Botany, 104: 1119-1121. dx.doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1700190. Chosen for inclusion in the 2018 Wiley virtual issue celebrating the International Day for Biological Diversity.

Laport, R.G., P. Muhia, C. Kennell, H. Hasan. 2017. Assessing water use variation among the cytotypes of the autopolyploid southwestern desert creosotebush (Larrea tridentata (DC.) Coville; Zygophyllaceae). Madroño 64: 32-42. dx.doi.org/10.3120/0024-9637-64.1.32.

Laport, R.G., R.L. Minckley, J. Ramsey. 2016. Ecological distributions, phenological isolation, and genetic structure in sympatric and parapatric populations of the Larrea tridentata polyploid complex. American Journal of Botany 103: 1358-1374. dx.doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1600105. Invited contribution to the special issue "The Evolutionary Importance of Polyploidy."

DeLong, J.P., V.E. Forbes, N. Galic, J.P. Gibert, R.G. Laport, J.S. Phillips, J.M. Vavra. 2016. How fast is fast? Eco-evolutionary dynamics and rates of change in populations and phenotypes. Ecology and Evolution 6: 573-581. dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1899.

Laport, R.G., and J. Ramsey. 2015. Morphometric analysis of the North American creosote bush (Larrea tridentata, Zygophyllaceae) and the microspatial distribution of its chromosome races. Plant Systematics & Evolution 301: 1581-1599. dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1179-5.

Laport, R.G., L. Hatem, R.L. Minckley, J. Ramsey. 2013. Ecological niche modeling implicates climatic adaptation, competitive exclusion, and niche conservatism among Larrea tridentata cytotypes in North American deserts. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 140: 349-363. dx.doi.org/10.3159/TORREY-D-13-00009.1.

Laport, R.G., and R.L. Minckley. 2013. Cytogeography of Larrea tridentata at the Chihuahuan-Sonoran Desert ecotone. In: G.J Gottfried, P.F. Ffolliott, B.S. Gebow, L.G. Eskew, and L.C. Collins, comps. Proceedings, Merging science and management in a rapidly changing world: biodiversity and management of the Madrean Archipelago III and 7th conference on research and resource management in the southwestern deserts; May 1-5, 2012, Tucson, AZ. RMRS-P-67. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO, USA.

Laport, R.G., R.L. Minckley, J. Ramsey. 2012. Phylogeny and cytogeography of the North American Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata; Zygophyllaceae). Systematic Botany 37: 153-164. dx.doi.org/10.1600/036364412X616738.

Laport, R.G., and R.L. Minckley. 2012. Occupation of active Xylocopa virginica nests by the recently invasive Megachile sculpturalis in upstate New York. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 85: 384-386. dx.doi.org/10.2317/0022-8567-85.4.384.

Glor, R.E., and R.G. Laport. 2012. Are subspecies of Anolis lizards that differ in dewlap color and pattern also genetically distinct?: A Mitochondrial Analysis. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 64: 255-260. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2010.11.004.

Cooper, J.L., B.J. Till, R.G. Laport, M.C. Darlow, J.M. Kleffner, A. Jamai, T. El-Mellouki, S. Liu, R. Ritchie, N. Nielsen, K.D. Bilyeu, K. Meksem, L. Comai, S. Henikoff. 2008. TILLING to detect induced mutations in soybean. BMC Plant Biology 8(9). dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2229-8-9.

Books

Till, B.J., J. Jankowicz-Cieslak, O.A. Hyunh, M.M. Beshir, R.G. Laport, B.J. Hofinger. 2015. Low-Cost Methods for Molecular Characterization of Mutant Plants. Tissue Desiccation, DNA Extraction and Mutation Discovery: Protocols. Springer International Publishing. dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16259-1.

Popular press

Ng, J. and R.G. Laport. 2014. What's the Buzz about Flower Color Diversity? Aquilegia 38(4): 24-26.  Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society. 

photos by R. Laport