Palaeontology staff directory

Research interests

The origins of land plants during the mid Palaeozoic. The evolution of major plant groups, especially ferns, clubmosses, horsetails, conifers and their relatives. The systematics of ferns, clubmosses, and their extinct relatives. The evolution of form in plants.

Long term goals include:

• the development of detailed and accurate phylogenetic trees for clubmosses, ferns and related extinct plant groups. These provide the fundamental conceptual framework for most comparative biology and are essential to the development of better plant classifications;
• the documentation and description of early fossil land plants.  The aim of this is to improve our understanding of the origins and early development of the first terrestrial ecosystems.
• I would like to see an integration of palaeontological approaches and new molecular methods to elucidate the evolution and development of plant form. 

Current activities

• Phylogeny and evolution of pteridophytes (ferns, clubmosses, horsetails, related fossil plants). The aim of this project is to create the first detailed family tree of ferns and related plants. We are using new gene sequencing technology for living species and combining this with evidence from fossils. Results contribute to an ongoing international effort to produce a detailed phylogenetic tree of plants. One product of this research is more accurate and comprehensive classifications. Another is the development of a detailed phylogenetic framework that enables us to address important questions on plant evolution. These include dating the origins of modern species diversity and investigating the evolution of ecological traits.
  
• The origin and early diversification of plants on land. Until comparatively recently, our knowledge of the earliest land floras has been based mainly on data from the Devonian and Silurian rocks of Europe and North America. The aim of this project is to compare the evolutionary patterns observed in this Euramerican region with newly documented floras from elsewhere, in particular southest Asia. Results will provide a better understanding of early land floras at a global level, contribute to knowledge of the origin and evolution of major organ and tissue systems, and lead to a more accurate and comprehensive phylogenetic tree of plants.  
  
• Cretaceous Flora of Korea. The Cretaceous Period (142-65 million years ago) was a time of major biological change that strongly influenced the evolution of modern plants and animals. The aim of this project is to collect new data on Cretaceous fossil plants from South Korea. These data will be used to document the Cretaceous flora of Korea - currently very poorly understood - and to provide new information on the early evolution of important plant groups (ie ferns, conifers, flowering plants). New data will be used to investigate the early development of the modern flora of south eastern Asia and to test and refine current ideas on the late Mesozoic climate and geology of the region.

Other Posts or Honoraria

2003 - present	Journal of Systematic Palaeontology - Associate Editor
2005 - present	American Journal of Botany - Associate Editor

Employment history

1988 - 1989	Palaeontology Department, University of Liège, Belgium - Royal Society Research Fellow
1989 - 1992	Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA - Research Associate
1992 - 1993	Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden - Assistant Curator
1993 - 1998	Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden - Senior Curator
1998 - present	Palaeontology Department, The Natural History Museum - Research Palaeobotanist

Higher education

1982	University of Wales, Cardiff - BSc
1988	University of Wales, Cardiff - PhD

Publications

KENRICK, P. and Davis, P.G., 2004. Fossil Plants. The Natural History Museum, London, 207 pp.

Korall, P. and KENRICK, P., 2004. The phylogenetic history of Selaginellaceae based on sequences from the plastid and nucleus: extreme substitution rates and rate heterogeneity. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 31: 852-864.

Forey, P., Fortey, R., KENRICK, P. and Smith, A.B., 2004. Taxonomy and fossils: a critical appraisal. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 359: 639-653.

KENRICK, P., 2004a. Angiosperms. In: R.C. Selley, L.R.M. Cocks and I. Pilmer (Editors), Encyclopedia of Geology. Elsevier, Oxford, pp. 418-427.

KENRICK, P., 2004b. Gymnosperms. In: R.C. Selley, L.R.M. Cocks and I. Pilmer (Editors), Encyclopedia of Geology. Elsevier, Oxford, pp. 443-454.

KENRICK, P., 2003. Fishing for the first plants. Nature, 425: 248-249.

Hilton, J., Geng, B. and KENRICK, P., 2003. A Novel Late Devonian (Frasnian) woody Cladoxylopsid from China. International Journal of Plants Sciences, 164: 793-805.

KENRICK, P. 2002. The origin of roots. In: Yoav Waisel, Amram Eshel & Uzi Kafkafi (Editors), Plant roots: the hidden half. 3rd edition. 1-13.

KENRICK, P. 2002. The telome theory. In: Q.C.B. Cronk, R.M. Bateman and J.A. Hawkins (Editors), Developmental genetics and plant evolution. Taylor & Francis, London. 365-387.

Wikström, N., KENRICK, P. and Vogel, J.C. 2002. Schizaeaceae: a phylogenetic approach. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 119: 35-50.

Korall, P. and KENRICK, P. 2002. Phylogenetic relationships in Selaginellaceae based on rbcL gene sequences. American Journal of Botany, 89: 506-517.

KENRICK, P. 2001. Turning over a new leaf. Nature, 410: 309-310.

Schneider, H. and KENRICK, P. 2001. An Early Cretaceous root-climbing epiphyte (Lidsaeaceae) and its significance for calibrating the diversification of polypodiaceous ferns. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 115: 33-41.

Wikström, N. and KENRICK, P. 2001. Evolution of Lycopodiaceae (Lycopsida): estimating divergence times from rbcL gene sequences by use of nonparametric rate smoothing. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 19: 177-186.

KENRICK, P. 2000. The relationships of vascular plants. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B355: 847-855.

KENRICK, P. and Crane, P.R. 2000. The origin and early evolution of plants on land. In: H. Gee (Editor), Shaking the tree: readings from Nature in the history of life. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 217-232.

KENRICK, P., You, H.-S., Koh, Y.-K., Kim, J.-Y., Cho, S.-H. and Kim, H.-G. 2000. Cretaceous plant fossils from the Kohung area, Chonnam, Korea. Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea, 16: 45-56.

Wikström, N. and KENRICK, P. 2000. Relationships of Lycopodium and Lycopodiella based on combined plastid rbcL gene and trnL intron sequence data. Systematic Botany, 25: 495-510.

Wikström, N. and KENRICK, P. 2000. Phylogeny of epiphytic Huperzia (Lycopodiaceae): paleotropical and neotropical clades corroborated by rbcL sequences. Nordic Journal of Botany, 20: 165-171.

You, H.-S., KENRICK, P., Koh, Y.-K., Kim, J.-Y., Yun, S.-T., Kim, H.-G., Chung, C.-H. and Ryu, S.-O. 2000. Palaeodepositional environment of the Cretaceous Hampyeong Basin, southwestern Korea. Journal of the Korean Earth Science Society, 21: 683-694.

KENRICK, P. 1999. Opaque petrifaction techniques. In: T.P. Jones and N.P. Rowe (Editors), Fossil plants and spores: modern techniques. Geological Society, London, pp. 87-91.

KENRICK, P. 1999. The family tree flowers. Nature, 402: 358-359.

KENRICK, P., Kvacek, Z. and Bengtson, S. 1999. Semblant land plants from the middle Ordovician of the Prague Basin reinterpreted as animals. Palaeontology, 42: 991-1002.

Korall, P., KENRICK, P. and Therrien, J.P. 1999. Phylogeny of Selaginellaceae: evaluation of generic/subgeneric relationships based on rbcL gene sequences. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 160: 585-594.

Wikström, N., KENRICK, P. and Chase, M.W. 1999. Epiphytism and terrestrialization in tropical Huperzia (Lycopodiaceae). Plant Systematics and Evolution, 218: 221-243.

Zhu, W.-Q. and KENRICK, P. 1999. A Zosterophyllum-like plant from the Lower Devonian of Yunnan Province, China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 105: 111-118.

KENRICK, P. 1999. Fossil Plants. In: A.C. Bishop, A.R. Woolley and W.R. Hamilton. Philip's minerals, rocks & fossils. George Philip, London, pp. 318-327.

KENRICK, P. and Li, C.-S. 1998. An early non-calcified dasycladalean alga from the Lower Devonian of Yunnan Province, China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 100: 73-88.

Wellman, C.H., Thomas, R.G., Edwards, D. and KENRICK, P. 1998. The Cosheston Group (Lower Old Red Sandstone) in southwest Wales: age, correlation and palaeobotanical significance. Geological Magazine, 135: 397-412.

Bateman, R.M., Crane, P.R., DiMichele, W.A., KENRICK, P., Speck, T., Rowe, N.P. and Stein, W.E. 1998. Early evolution of land plants: phylogeny, physiology, and ecology of the primary terrestrial radiation. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 29: 263-292.

KENRICK, P. and Crane, P.R. 1997. The origin and early evolution of plants on land. Nature, 389: 33-39.

KENRICK, P. and Crane, P.R. 1997. The origin and early diversification of land plants: a cladistic study. Smithsonian Series in Comparative Evolutionary Biology. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 441 pp.

Crane, P.R. and KENRICK, P. 1997. Diverted development of reproductive organs: a source of morphological innovation in land plants. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 206: 161-174.

Crane, P.R. and KENRICK, P. 1997. Problems in cladistic classification: higher level relationships in land plants. Aliso, 15: 87-104.

Stengård, E. and KENRICK, P. 1997. Development of a collections database at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 269: 145-150.

KENRICK, P. 1994. Alternation of generations in land plants: new phylogenetic and palaeobotanical evidence. Biological Reviews, 69: 293-330.

Wikström, N. and KENRICK, P. 1997. Phylogeny of Lycopodiaceae (Lycopsida) and the relationships of Phylloglossum drummondii Kunze based on rbcL sequences. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 158: 862-871.

KENRICK, P. and Friis, E.M. 1995. Paleobotany of Land Plants. Progress in Botany, 56: 372-395.

KENRICK, P., Remy, W. and Crane, P.R. 1991. The structure of water-conducting cells in the enigmatic early land plants Stockmansella langii Fairon-Demaret, Huvenia kleui Hass et Remy and Sciadophyton sp. Remy et al. 1980. Argumenta Palaeobotanica, 8: 179-191.

KENRICK, P. and Crane, P.R. 1991. Water-conducting cells in early fossil land plants: implications for the early evolution of tracheophytes. Botanical Gazette, 152: 335-356.

KENRICK, P., Edwards, D. and Dales, R.C. 1991. Novel ultrastructure in water-conducting cells of the Lower Devonian plant Sennicaulis hippocrepiformis. Palaeontology, 34: 751-766.

KENRICK, P. and Fairon-Demaret, M. 1991. Archaeopteris roemeriana (Göppert) sensu Stockmans,1948, from the Upper Famennian of Belgium: anatomy and leaf polymorphism. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre, 61: 179-195.

Edwards, D., KENRICK, P. and Carluccio, L.M. 1989. A reconsideration of cf. Psilophyton princeps (Croft and Lang, 1942), a zosterophyll widespread in the Lower Old Red Sandstone of South Wales. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 100: 293-318.

KENRICK, P. and Edwards, D. 1988. The anatomy of Lower Devonian Gosslingia breconensis Heard based on pyritized axes, with some comments on the permineralization process. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 97: 95-123.

KENRICK, P. and Edwards, D. 1988. A new zosterophyll from a recently discovered exposure of the Lower Devonian Senni Beds in Dyfed, Wales. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 98: 97-115.

Edwards, D. and KENRICK, P. 1986. A new zosterophyll from the Lower Devonian of Wales. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 92: 269-283.

Edwards, D., Rose, V., Axe, L. and KENRICK, P. 1986. Studies on Lower Devonian petrifactions from Britain, 3. Notes on putative fungal remains in zosterophylls from the Brecon Beacons Quarry, Powys, South Wales. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 48: 241-251.