News and Updates

New Funding from NSF: Developmental Selection During Reproduction Contributes to Plant Evolution and Adaptation. 
Available in hardback, paperback, Kindle, and audio versions.

Recent Publications

Cruzan, M.B. 2025. Looking Down the Tree - The Evolutionary Biology of Human Origins. Oxford University Press (Available in October)

Streisfeld, M.A., J.C. Crown, J.J. McLean, A.W. Short, and M.B. Cruzan. 2025. Inheritance of somatic mutations can affect fitness in monkeyflowers. J. Evol. Biol. 28: 630-638. (https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voaf033)

Hendrickson, E.C. and M.B. Cruzan. 2024. Effective dispersal patterns in prairie plant species across human-modified landscapes. Molecular Ecology 00, e17354. (https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17354​)
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​Cruzan, M.B., M.A. Streisfeld, and J.A. Schwoch. 2022. Phenotypic effects of somatic mutation accumulation during vegetative growth. Evolutionary Ecology 36: 767–785  (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-022-10188-3)

Cruzan, M.B., Thompson, P.G., Diaz, N.A, Hendrickson, E.C., Gerloff, K.R., Kline, K.A., Machiorlete, H.M., and Persinger, J.M. ​2021. Weak Coupling among Barrier Loci and Waves of Neutral and Adaptive Introgression Across an Expanding Hybrid Zone. Evolution 75: 3098-3114 (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/evo.14381).

Cruzan, M.B. and E.C. Hendrickson. 2020. Landscape genetics in plants - challenges and opportunities. Plant Communications 1(6): 100100. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xplc.2020.100100)doi.org/10.1016/j

Grasty M.R., Thompson P.G., Pheil A.E., Hendrickson E.C., Cruzan M.B. 2020. Fine-scale habitat heterogeneity and vole runways influence seed dispersal in Plagiobothrus nothofulvys. American Journal of Botany 107:1-10. (https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajb2.1433)

Cruzan, M.B. 2019. How to Make a Weed–The Saga of the Slender False Brome Invasion in the North American West and Lessons for the Future. BioSceince 69:496-507. (https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz051)

Marchini, G.L., C.A. Maraist, and M.B. Cruzan. 2019. Functional trait divergence, not plasticity, determines the success of a newly invasive plant. Annals of Botany 123:667-679. (https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcy200)

Marchini, G.L., T.M. Arredondo, and M.B. Cruzan. 2018. Selective differentiation during the colonization and establishment of a newly invasive species. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 31:1689-1703. (https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13369).

Arredondo, T.M., G.L. Marchini, and M.B. Cruzan. 2018. Evidence for human-mediated range expansion and gene flow in an invasive grass. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20181125. (https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1125) 

Hendrickson, E.C., P.G. Thompson, and M.B. Cruzan. 2018. Density dependent pollination and germination in the patchy vernal pool species Lasthenia californica​. International Journal of Plant Sciences 179: 583-591  (https://doi.org/10.1086/697967)

Kohrn, B. F., J. M. Persinger, and M. B. Cruzan. 2017. An efficient pipeline to generate data for studies in plastid population genomics and phylogeography. Applications in Plant Sciences 5(11):1700053. (https://doi.org/10.3732/apps.1700053)

Cruzan, M.B., B.G. Weinstein, M.R. Grasty, B.F. Kohrn, E.C. Hendrickson, T.M. Arredondo, P.G. Thompson. 2016. Small unmanned aerial vehicles (micro-UAVs, drones) in plant ecology. Applications in Plant Sciences 4(9). (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3732/apps.1600041)
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Workman, R.E. and M.B. Cruzan. 2016. Mycelial networks impact competition in an invasive grass. American Journal of Botany 103:1041-1049. (https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1600142)

Marchini, M.L, N. Cole Sherlock, A.P. Ramakrishnan, D.M. Rosenthal, and M.B. Cruzan. 2016. Rapid purging of genetic load in a metapopulation and consequences for range expansion in an invasive plant. Biological Invasions 18:183-196. (doi:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-015-1001-5)
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Cruzan, M.B. and S.C.H. Barrett. 2016. Post-pollination discrimination between self- and outcross-pollen covaries with the mating system of a self-compatible flowering plant. American Journal of Botany 103:568-576.   (doi: https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1500139)

Independent Research for Undergraduates

Research is the primary mechanism for the discovery and accumulation of new information.  Undergraduate students in our lab work with graduate students and the PI to develop their own project of original research.  Students conducting research attend weekly lab meetings and engage in lab activities.  Completed studies are published as parts of larger projects or completely on their own.  ​

Graduate Research

Students interested in pursuing graduate research in the Cruzan Lab should contact the PI directly: [email protected].