I am an evolutionary biologist interested in big questions within plant evolution. In the past, I have worked to understand the extent to which evolution is repeatable at the molecular level in distantly related plant genera, and how plant species adapt to extreme environments, such as the Arctic.
In my postdoc at NMBU, I will study how some plant species have developed a woody growth form. Trees are an old evolutionary invention, but the woody growth form has been lost and gained repeatedly throughout the history of plants. In fact, it is not uncommon for plants to evolve into trees when they colonize remote islands. How and why a woody growth form repeatidly is lost and gained is one of the great mysteries of the plant world.
In the EVOTREE project, we will take a closer look at the gene networks underlying wood formation in plants. Together with researchers from Umeå University, we will describe and compare the gene networks of woody species representing different evolutionary plant groups. We aim to understand what makes a tree a tree, and how a woody growth form is so easily lost and gained.
For more info, see my personal webpage: http://siribirkeland.com/
Liste med publikasjoner fra min forskning. (Cristin)
Nowak MD*, Birkeland S, Mandáková T, Choudhury RR, Guo X, Gustafsson ALS, Gizaw A, Schrøder-Nielsen A, Fracassetti M, Brysting AK, Rieseberg L, Slotte T, Parisod C, Lysak MA, Brochmann C. 2020. The genome of Draba nivalis shows signatures of adaptation to the extreme environmental stresses of the Arctic. Molecular Ecology Resources. 00:1-16
Birkeland S*, Gustafsson ALS, Brysting AK, Brochmann C, Nowak MD. 2020. Multiple genetic trajectories to extreme abiotic stress adaptation in Arctic Brassicaceae. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 37(7):2052–2068
Struck TH*, Feder JL, Bendiksby M, Birkeland S, Cerca J, Gusarov VI, Kistenich S, Larsson K-H, Liow LH, Nowak MD, Stedje B, Bachmann L, Dimitrov D. 2018. Finding Evolutionary Processes Hidden in Cryptic Species. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 33(3):153–163.
Struck TH*, Feder JL, Bendiksby M, Birkeland S, Cerca J, Gusarov VI, Kistenich S, Larsson K-H, Liow LH, Nowak MD, Stedje B, Bachmann L, Dimitrov D. 2018. Cryptic Species – More Than Terminological Chaos: A Reply to Heethoff. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 33(5):310-312.
Birkeland S*, Skjetne IEB*, Brysting AK, Elven R, Alsos IG. 2017. Living on the edge: Conservation genetics of seven thermophilous plant species in a high Arctic archipelago. AoB Plants. 9(1):1-21
Alsos IG*, Ehrich D, Eidesen PB, Solstad H, Westergaard KB, Schönswetter P, Tribsch A, Birkeland S, Elven R, Brochmann C. 2015. Long-distance plant dispersal to North Atlantic islands: Colonization routes and founder effect. AoB Plants. 7(1):1-19.
Westengen OT, Okongo MA, Onek L, Berg T, Upadhyaya H, Birkeland S, Khalsa SDK, Ring KH, Stenseth NC*, Brysting AK. 2014. Ethnolinguistic structuring of sorghum genetic diversity in Africa and the role of local seed systems. PNAS. 111(39):14100–14105.
*Corresponding author(s)