My research focuses on studies in evolutionary ecology at different temporal and spatial scales, integrating methodologies from the fields of ecology, population genetics, phylogeography and systematics.  Most of my projects have some component relating to issues of conservation and applied management of imperiled species. 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park	Nursery stocks of Illicium parviflorum

My recent work includes:

1. Phylogeography and divergence time estimation of eastern North American tree species with disjunctions in eastern Mexico
2. Molecular systematics of Illicium, a basal angiosperm lineage with an eastern North America/Eastern Asia/West Indies disjunction
3. Population genetics of Illicium parviflorum, a rare central Florida endemic that is commonly propagated in the horticultural industry
4. Population genetics of high elevation populations of Fagus grandifolia (American beech) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park affected by beech bark disease

Canopy photo taken under American beech

Recent publications

Morris, AB, CD Bell, JW Clayton, WS Judd, DE Soltis and PS Soltis. 2007.   Phylogeny and divergence time estimation in Illicium with implications for New World biogeography.  Accepted, Systematic Botany.

Soltis, DE, AB Morris, JS McLachlan, PS Manos and PS Soltis. 2006. Comparative phylogeography of unglaciated eastern North America.  Molecular Ecology 15: 4261-4293. PDF

Guerrero, A, WS Judd and AB Morris. 2004. A new species of Illicium subsection Parviflora (Illiciaceae) from the Massif de la Hotte, Haiti. Brittonia. 56(4): 346-352.

Scheen AC, C Brochmann, AK Brysting,  R Elven, A Morris, DE Soltis, PS Soltis and VA Albert. 2004. Northern hemisphere biogeography of Cerastium (Caryophyllaceae): Insights from phylogenetic analysis of noncoding plastid nucleotide sequences. American Journal of Botany 91 (6): 943-952. PDF

Morris, AB, RL Small and MB Cruzan. 2004.  Variation in frequency of clonal reproduction among populations of Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. in response to disturbance. Castanea 69(1): 38-51.

Morris, AB, RL Small and MB Cruzan. 2002. Investigating the relationship between Cryptococcus fagisuga and Fagus grandifolia in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Southeastern Naturalist 1(4):  415-424.

Morris, AB, RS Baucom and MB Cruzan. 2002.  Stratified analysis of the soil seed bank in the cedar glade endemic Astragalus bibullatus: Evidence for historical changes in  genetic structure. American Journal of Botany 89(1): 29-36. PDF