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Gary, myself, and Craig Schneider on Horseshoe Beach during a trip to Bermuda in 2001

Chris Lane

PhD Candidate

Chris is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at University of Rhode Island and has his own lab.

Research: Systematics and molecular investigations in the brown algal order Laminariales.

I first became interested in algae during my undergraduate years at Trinity College, in Hartford Ct. In my last two years there, I worked with Craig Schneider on a freshwater alga, Vaucheria. My honors thesis was a collection of projects, including a Vaucheria monograph for Connecticut and a resource allocation study. It was through Craig’s guidance and enthusiasm that I began to love algae.

My current research focuses on the systematics of brown algae (Phaeophyceae) at both the ordinal level, and within certain genera of interest. I have done a lot of work on the kelp (Laminariales) and I am beginning to investigate the Dictyotales. In addition, I plan on continuing with some Vaucheria studies in the future. My main interests include systematics and evolution, of both algae and the molecules within them. I enjoy long walks in the intertidal and moonlit low tides.

In addition, I continue to collaborate with Craig Schneider on his work in Bermuda. He has been working on the Flora of Bermuda since to 1980's and we make frequent collecting trips to the island. Its a nice change from the cold water diving in the North Pacific but the jagged limestone rocks can make collecting a little hazardous.

Opportunities to travel the world for seaweed have not been in short supply recently. A detailed account of our recent trip to the Canadian Arctic can be found here. Our search for the endemic Arctic brown algae Platyarcticus and Platysiphon was successful.

In addition to algae, I've spent a lot of time working with both fish and reptiles. I was an intern / employee at the New England Aquarium for a number of years and would highly recommend visiting there if you are ever in Boston. I also breed and raise corn snakes and have a love for most reptiles.

 

Postelsia palmaeformis, photographed at Keeha Beach during an unintentional visit.

We look in any place we can for seaweed and Gary even sacrifices a good amount of flesh to the limestone for this collection.

All suited up and ready to go, heading from Pond Inlet to Z Inlet at the northern end of Baffin Island.(From left to right: Jim Foertch, Gary Saunders, Bob Wilce and Chris Lane)

Publications (abstracts)

Schneider, C.W. & C.E. Lane. in prep. Notes on the marine algae of the Bermudas. 8. Two new species of Botryocladia (Rhodophyta, Rhodymeniales) based on morphological and molecular evidence. Phycologia.

Lane, C. E., S. Lindstrom & G. W. Saunders. in prep. A molecular evaluation of morphological species in the genus Alaria. Journal of Phycology.

Saunders, G.W., C.E. Lane, & C. W. Schneider. in prep. Establishing the taxonomic limits of Asteromenia peltata (W.R. Taylor) J.M. Huisman et A.J.K. Millar (Rhodophyta: Florideophyceae): recognition of Aereostella exanimans gen. et sp. nov. for Australian populations. Phycologia.

Lane, C. E. & G. W. Saunders. in prep. Molecular investigation reveals a cryptic habitat of Kelp (Laminariales, Phaeophyceae) gametophytes. Journal of Phycology.

Druehl, L., J. Collins, C. E. Lane & G. W. Saunders. submitted. A critique of intergeneric kelp hybridization protocol, employing Pacific Laminariales. Journal of Phycology.

Lane, C. E., C. M. Mayes, L. Druehl & G. W. Saunders. submitted. A multi-gene molecular investigation of the kelp (Laminariales, Phaeophyceae) resolves competing phylogenetic hypotheses and supports substantial taxonomic re-organization. Systematic Biology.

Schneider, C.W. & C.E. Lane. in press. Notes on the marine algae of the Bermudas. 7. Additions to the flora including Chondracanthus saundersii sp. nov. (Rhodophyta, Gigartinaceae) based upon rbcL sequence analysis. Phycologia.

Dunphy, M.E., D.C. McDevit, C.E. Lane, and Schneider, C.W. (2001) The survival of Vaucheria (Vaucheriaceae) propagules in desiccated New England riparian sediments. Rhodora 103:916 416-426.

C.W. Schneider and C.E. Lane (2000a). A new species of Botryocladia (Rhodymeniales, Rhodophyta) from the Galapagos Islands. Cryptogamie, Algologie 21: 167-175.

Schneider, C.W. and C.E. Lane (2000b). Two species of Vaucheria for New England, V. lii and V. racemosa. Northeastern Naturalist 7: 25-32.

Schneider, C.W., C.E. Lane, and A. Norland (1999). The freshwater species of Vaucheria (Tribophyceae, Chrysophyta) from Connecticut. Rhodora 101: 235-263.

Invited lectures

Christopher E. Lane. Understanding kelp evolution: how many sequences does it take to get to the center of a taxonomic problem? Dalhousie University, May 2004.

Conference Abstracts

Christopher E. Lane & Gary W. Saunders. Lessoniopsis littoralis (Tild.) Reinke: promiscuous propagator or kindergarten kelp? Northeast Algal Symposium, 2004.

Craig W. Schneider & Christopher E. Lane. A new species of Chondracanthus from Bermuda – extinction before description? Northeast Algal Symposium, 2004.

Christopher E. Lane, Charlene Mayes, Louis Druehl & Gary W. Saunders. A multi-gene survey of kelp (Laminariales, Phaeophyceae) phylogeny using molecular data: Is resolution in sight? Third European Phycological Congress, 2003.

Christopher E. Lane, Sandra Lindstrom and Gary W. Saunders. Plasticity and morphological mayhem: using sequence data to test morphological species in the genus Alaria (Laminariales; Phaeophyceae). Northeast Algal Symposium, 2003.

Christopher E. Lane, Charlene Mayes and Gary W. Saunders. Resolving Kelp Phylogeny: A multi-gene perspective. International Society of Evolutionary Protistology, 2002.

Christopher E. Lane, Craig W. Schneider, Gary W. Saunders. Using DNA to revisit a few Bermudan red algae of uncertain taxonomic placement. Northeast Algal Symposium, 2002.

Christopher E. Lane, Charlene Mayes & Gary W. Saunders. Using additional genes to shed light on the unresolved issues in kelp (Laminariales; Phaeophyceae) systematics. International Phycological Symposium, 2001.

Christopher E. Lane, Charlene Mayes & Gary W. Saunders. Inferring kelp (Laminariales; Phaeophyceae) phylogeny using two additional gene systems. Northeast Algal Symposium, 2001.

Gary W. Saunders, Christopher E. Lane & Charlene Mayes. A candid assessment of systematics in the Laminariales: muddled morphologies and sketchy sequences. Annual meeting of the Phycological Society of America, 2000.

Christopher E. Lane & Gary W. Saunders. An assessment of the utility of the LSU ribosomal DNA for inferring kelp (Laminariales; Phaeophyceae) phylogeny. Northeast Algal Symposium, 2000.

Megan E. Dunphy, Christopher E. Lane & Craig W. Schneider. The effects of desiccation, freezing and depth on Vaucheria DC. (Vaucheriaceae; Tribophyceae; Chrysophyta) propagules in Connecticut riparian sediments. Northeast Algal Symposium, 2000.

Christopher E. Lane, Anna Norland & Craig W. Schneider. A survey of the freshwater species of Vaucheria (Tribophyceae; Chrysophyta) from Connecticut. Northeast Algal Symposium, 1999.