Pieter Pelser

Welcome! I'm a Lecturer in Plant Systematics at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Although I'm fascinated by all aspects of biology, I'm particularly interested in studying the evolutionary history of plants. Most of my research projects are centered around Tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae). This plant group contains the genus Senecio, which is one of the largest genera of flowering plants. With the help of molecular systematic tools, biogeographic analyses, and molecular dating, and in collaboration with other researchers working on Senecioneae, I'm trying to learn more about the diversification of Senecioneae.

Senecioneae research

Senecioneae is the largest tribe in the Asteraceae, composed of approximately 3000 species. It includes Senecio, one of the largest genera of flowering plants. The tribe is nearly cosmopolitan and composed of taxa with very diverse life-history strategies and morphological adaptations. In the international collaborative project ‘Late Tertiary Climatic Changes and the Evolutionary Success of Tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae), A Phylogenetic Approach’, we aim to increase our understanding of the evolutionary success of Senecioneae by determining if the origin of summer-dry conditions in the late Tertiary, that resulted in regions with Mediterranean climates and specialized floras on five continents, has been an important factor in the diversification of Senecioneae. We aim to achieve this by reconstructing a DNA sequence phylogeny of the tribe in which all 151 genera are represented with sampling emphasis on Mediterranean lineages. We will subsequently use this phylogeny to infer the time and place of origin for the Senecioneae and to reconstruct and date the dispersal pathways leading from ancestral area(s) into regions with Mediterranean climates. We will further examine the patterns of diversification that subsequently followed colonization into Mediterranean regions and retrace the routes of migration into areas with boreal, cool-temperate, or tropical climates. In this way, we will determine if the descendents of Mediterranean lineages remained confined to these summer-dry areas, or, alternatively, became main elements of other contemporary floras.
The merits of this project will be a better understanding of the evolution of Mediterranean floras by determining the relationship between climate change and diversification. Senecioneae is an excellent model system for this, because it is one of the very few plant groups that has a large number of representatives in all five Mediterranean regions.

For more information about my research on Senecioneae, please see the lists of publications and presentations on this website. These contain links to abstracts and full text articles.

Professional activities, awards, and scholarships

2006: Co-PI on NSF grant for research project “Late Tertiary Climatic Changes and the Evolutionary Success of Tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae), A Phylogenetic Approach.” ($ 301,886).
2005: Recommended for a European Union SYNTHESIS grant to visit the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. This grant was declined by the PI due to logistical requirements.
2004: European Union SYNTHESIS grant to visit the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Germany.
2004: Award for best poster at the Botaniker Tagung of the Botanische Gesellschaft, Braunschweig, Germany.
2004-present: Coordinator of the international (Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, New Zealand, USA) research project ‘Phylogeny of tribe Senecioneae’.
2003: Scholarship of the Systematics Association to give a presentation at the 4th biennial meeting of the Systematics Association in Dublin, Ireland.
2002-2003: Member of the institute council of the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden University branch, Netherlands.
2001-2002: Member of the organization committee of the international symposium “Plant species-level systematics: patterns, processes, and new applications”, Leiden, Netherlands, 13-15 November 2002.
2000-2003: Webmaster website of the Taskforce Molecular Systematics of the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden University branch, Netherlands.
1999-2003: Editorial board of Gorteria.
1998: International Timber Trade Organization fellowship award ($ 7,200).

Oral presentations

Watson, L.E & P.B. Pelser. 2008. Origin, migration, and diversification of 'mediterranean-climate' species of Senecio (Asteraceae) in central Chile: A molecular phylogenetic approach. Oklahoma Academy of Sciences, Fall meeting, Bethany, USA.
Pelser, P.B., A.H. Kennedy, E.J. Tepe, B. Nordenstam, J.W. Kadereit & L.E. Watson. 2008. Ancient reticulation characterizes the evolutionary history of tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae). Botany 2008, Vancouver, Canada.
Pelser, P.B. 2008. Why are there so many Ragworts? The taxonomy and diversification of tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae). Southern Illinois University, USA (invited seminar).
Pelser, P.B. 2007. Why are there so many Ragworts?: the origin, biogeography, and diversification of tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae). Miami University, Oxford, USA.
Pelser, P.B., J.W. Kadereit, B. Nordenstam & L.E. Watson. 2007. Mediterranean diversifications in Tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae). XII OPTIMA meeting, Pisa, Italy.
Schaffner, U., P.B. Pelser & K. Vrieling. 2007. Host-use by the biological control agent Longitarsus jacobaeae among closely related plant species. XIIth International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, La Grande Motte (Montpellier), France.
Pelser, P.B. 2006. Phylogenetic systematics as a tool to study biological patterns and processes. University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
Pelser, P.B. 2006. DNA and the evolution of Senecioneae (Compositae). National Museum of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.
Pelser, P.B., J.W. Kadereit, B. Nordenstam & L.E. Watson. 2006. An ITS phylogeny of Tribe Senecioneae and a new delimitation of Senecio. Meeting of The International Compositae Alliance, Barcelona, Spain and Botany 2006, Chico, USA.
Pelser, P.B. 2005. Why is Senecio (Asteraceae) so successful?: a systematic approach. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, Germany.
Pelser, P.B., J.W. Kadereit, B. Nordenstam, I. Breitwieser, S.J. Wagstaff & L.E. Watson. 2005. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of a giant: a preliminary ITS phylogeny of Senecio and tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae). International Botanical Congress, Vienna, Austria.
Schaffner, U., H. Kirk, P.B. Pelser & K. Vrieling. 2004. What determines resistance to specialist herbivores? A case study with the plant genus Senecio and Longitarsus flea beetles. Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America, Salt Lake City, USA.
Pelser, P.B., B. Gravendeel & R. van der Meijden. 2003. Identifying the species of Senecio sect. Jacobaea (Asteraceae) using morphology and molecules: an iterative approach. Fourth Biennial Symposium of the Systematics Association, Dublin, Ireland.
Pelser, P.B., B. Gravendeel & R. van der Meijden. 2002. Elucidating species-level phylogenetic relationships in Senecio sect. Jacobaea (Asteraceae) with AFLP and DNA sequence data. Plant species-level systematics: patterns, processes, and new applications, Leiden, Netherlands.
Pelser, P.B., B. Gravendeel & R. van der Meijden. 2001. Tackling speciose genera: a search for the species composition and phylogenetic position of Senecio sect. Jacobaea (Asteraceae). Third Biennial Symposium of the Systematics Association, London, UK.