Petra Korall

Associate Professor

Main Projects

Tree ferns

Tree ferns, with their characteristic tree-like habit and large, compound leaves, are a conspicuous component of tropical, subtropical, and south temperate floras. Cyatheaceae, the scaly tree ferns, is the best known of the tree fern families and it comprises most of the species diversity of the group (some 500 of the approximately 600 species in the group). Not all of the members of the tree fern clade are, however, arborescent. There are also mediumsized species with creeping rhizomes (e.g., Metaxyaceae and Loxomataceae), as well as diminutive species with short rhizomes (Hymenophyllopsis in Cyatheaceae).

In this project I study the phylogeny and biogeography of tree ferns, mainly in collaboration with Dr. Kathleen Pryer (Duke University, North Carolina, USA), Dr. David Conant (Lyndon State College, Vermont, USA), and Dr. Harald Schneider (Natural History Museum, London, UK). See a list of my publications here.

Woodsia – cliff ferns

I supervise Anders Larsson who, in his Ph.D-project, study the phylogeny and biogeography of Woodsia, cliff ferns. You find more information about the project at Anders' website.

Selaginellaceae

The lycopod family Selaginellaceae (Spikemosses) comprises approximately 700 herbaceous species. They are distributed all over the world, but most species diversity is found in the tropics and subtropics. Lycopods, that is, Selaginellaceae together with Isoetaceae (quillworts) and Lycopodiaceae (clubmosses) are the extant remnants of a once diverse and dominant group, reaching its zenith in the Upper Carboniferous some 300 million years ago.

myosurusspore My thesis focused on the phylogeny of extant Selaginellaceae, and included analysis of relationships within the family based on plastid and nuclear DNA sequence data. I also did a study on the megaspore morphology in Selaginellaceae in a phylogenetic context (see a list of my publications here). I was advised by Dr. Paul Kenrick at the Natural History Museum, London, UK.