Portrait of Christopher Martine

Chris Martine

David Burpee Professor in Plant Genetics & Research
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Professor Martine is the David Burpee Chair in Plant Genetics & Research, and the Director of the Manning Herbarium.

I am a biodiversity scientist with a particular focus on plants, especially the ecology and evolution of plant reproduction. Much of my work has been in the plant family Solanaceae, including more than a decade looking into the unusual breeding systems of the genus Solanum in northern Australia through a combination of field studies and molecular phylogenetics. My broad interests in natural history have also kept me rooted in my home region, the northeastern US, where I have engaged in field-based studies with students and colleagues.

It is my opinion that one key to stemming the tide of biodiversity loss is producing outreach materials that are effective in generating public interest in what we do and the organisms we study. To that end, I am developing a web-based program called "Plants Are Cool, Too!" — and am on the look-out for plants (and their researchers) to highlight. (Watch episodes from "Plants Are Cool, Too!")

The Martine Lab is a community where mentored undergraduates, Master's students and postdoctoral fellows all work together to find answers to cool questions while honing the skills they'll need for their futures in science. I am always happy to speak with individuals who think my lab might the right place for them.

Find out what it's like to be a student working in the Martine Lab

Educational Background

  • B.S. Natural Resource Management, Cook College, Rutgers University, 1996
  • M.S. Ecology and Evolution, Rutgers University, 2001
  • Ph.D. Botany, University of Connecticut, 2006

Honors and Awards

  • Fellow of the Linnean Society, elected 2022
  • Peter Raven Award, American Society of Plant Taxonomists, 2018
  • Melinda F. Denton Memorial Lecturer, University of Washington, 2017
  • New England Biolabs Passion in Science Award, 2016
  • Dennis M. Fenton Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award, Rutgers University, 2016
  • Innovations in Plant Systematics Education Prize (IPSEP), American Society of Plant Taxonomists, 2014
  • David T. Scadden Faculty Scholar Award, Bucknell University, 2013
  • Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, State University of New York, 2011
  • Charles Edwin Bessey Teaching Award, Botanical Society of America, 2010
  • George R. Cooley Award, American Society of Plant Taxonomists, 2005

Research Interests

  • Discovery and description of new species
  • Plant reproductive ecology and evolution.
  • Systematics, phylogenetics, and population genetics
  • Patterns and processes of plant diversification in the Australian Monsoon Tropics
  • Invasive species biology
  • Science communications

X/INSTAGRAM/BLUESKY: @MartineBotany

ACADEMIA: ChrisMartine

RESEARCHGATE: Christopher_Martine

BLOG: dr-chris-martine

Selected Publications

ARTICLES & REPORTS

Bird, R.B., D.W. Bird, C.T. Martine, C. McGuire, L. Greenwood, D. Taylor, T.M. Williams, P.M. Veth. 2024. Seed dispersal by Martu peoples promotes the distribution of native plants in arid Australia. Nature Communications 15: 6019. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50300-5

Long, K.R., M.P. Sain, E.G. Williams, C.T. Martine. 2024. An incursion of the widely-cultivated
katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Cercidiphyllaceae) in Pennsylvania. Castanea 89(2): 144–148.

Martine, C.T., A. Kell., D. Zizis. 2024. Cross-pollination: Building a co-taught course to examine art and sex through the lens of botany. Plant Science Bulletin 53: 73-75.

Harris, B.N., A.K. Lewis, S. Sharpe, T. Orr, C.T. Martine, C.C. Josefson. 2024. Incorporating sex-diverse and gender-inclusive perspectives in higher education biology courses. Integrative and Comparative Biology icae054, https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icae054

Hilgenhof, R., E. Gagnon, S. Knapp, X. Aubriot, E.J. Tepe, L. Bohs, L.L. Giacomin, Y.F. Gouvêa, C.T. Martine, A. Orejuela, C.I. Orozco, I.E. Peralta, T. Särkinen. 2023. Morphological trait evolution in Solanum (Solanaceae): evolutionary lability of key taxonomic characters. Taxon. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12990

Martine, C.T. 2023. Fluidity and inconstancy: Australian bush tomatoes as an exemplar of non-normative sex expression. Integrative and Comparative Biology. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icad051

Cantley, J.T., I.E. Jordon-Thaden, M. Roche, D. Hayes, S. Kate, C.T. Martine. 2023. A foundational population genetics investigation of the sexual systems of Solanum (Solanaceae) in the Australian Monsoon Tropics suggests dioecious taxa may benefit from increased genetic admixture via obligate outcrossing. Plants 12(11), 2200; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12112200

Huang, J., W. Xu, J. Zhai, Y. Hu, J. Guo, C. Zhang, Y. Zhao, L. Zhang, C.T. Martine, H. Ma, C. Huang. 2023. Nuclear phylogeny and insights into whole-genome duplications and reproductive development of Solanaceae plants. Plant Communicationshttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.xplc.2023.100595.

Williams, T.M., J. Hayes, A.J. McDonnell, J.T. Cantley, P. Jobson, C.T. Martine. 2022. Solanum scalarium (Solanaceae), a new functionally dioecious bush tomato species from the Northern Territory, Australia. PhytoKeys 216: 103-116.

Gagnon E., R. Hilgenhof, A. Orejuela, A.J. McDonnell, G. Sablok, X. Aubriot, L. Giacomin,Y. Gouvêa, L. Bohs, S. Dodsworth, C.T. Martine, P. Poczai, S. Knapp, T. Särkinen. 2022. Phylogenomic discordance suggests polytomies along the backbone of the large genus Solanum. American Journal of Botany.

Gagnon E., R. Hilgenhof, A. Orejuela, A.J. McDonnell, G. Sablok, X. Aubriot, L. Giacomin,Y. Gouvêa, L. Bohs, S. Dodsworth, C.T. Martine, P. Poczai, S. Knapp, and T. Särkinen. 2022. Phylogenomic discordance suggests polytomies along the backbone of the large genus Solanum. American Journal of Botany. https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajb2.1827

Ndem-Galbert, J.R., J. Hall, A.J. McDonnell and C.T. Martine. 2021. Differential reward in “male” versus “female” pollen of functionally dioecious Solanum (Solanaceae). American Journal of Botany. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1765

Moore, C.L., A.J. McDonnell, S. Schuette, C.T. Martine. 2021. Lepidopteran granivory reduces seed counts in a rare species of riparian scour prairies. Natural Areas Journal 41:47-54. https://doi.org/10.3375/043.041.0107

McDonnell, A.J., C.L. Moore, S. Schuette, C.T. Martine. 2021. Population genomics and conservation of Erigenia bulbosa (Apiaceae), an edge-of-range species in Pennsylvania. International Journal of Plant Sciences. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/7

Cantley, J.T., A.J. McDonnell, J. Branson, J. Kobara, S.R. Long, W. Garnett and C.T. Martine. 2020. Temperate Eurasian Origins of Hawaiian Chenopodium (Amaranthaceae) plus description of a new subspecies endemic to Moloka‘i. Systematic Botany 45(3), 554-566 https://doi.org/10.1600/036364420X15935294613473

Jordon-Thaden, I.E., J. Beck, C. Rushworth, M. Windham, N. Diaz, J.T. Cantley, C.T. Martine and C. Rothfels. 2020. A basic two-enzyme protocol performs well in herbarium and silica-dried tissues across four genera. Applications in Plant Science.

Martine, C.T., I.E. Jordon-Thaden, A.J. McDonnell, J. Cantley, D. Hayes, M. Roche, E.S. Frawley, I.S. Gilman and D. Tank. 2019. Phylogeny of the Australian Solanum dioicum group using seven nuclear genes: Testing Symon’s fruit and seed dispersal hypotheses. PLoS ONE 14(4): e0207564. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207564

McDonnell A.J., H.B. Wetreich, J.T. Cantley, P. Jobson, C.T. Martine. 2019. Solanum plastisexum, an enigmatic new bush tomato from the Australian Monsoon Tropics exhibiting breeding system fluidity. PhytoKeys 124: 39-55. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.124.33526

Hayes, D., I.E. Jordon-Thaden, J.T. Cantley, A.J. McDonnell and C.T. Martine. 2019. Integrated pest management in the academic small greenhouse setting: A case study using Solanum spp. (Solanaceae). Applications in Plant Science. doi: 10.1002/aps3.11281

Schuette, S., R. Folk, J.T. Cantley and C.T. Martine. 2018. The hidden Heuchera: How science Twitter uncovered a globally imperiled species in Pennsylvania, USA. PhytoKeys 96:87-97.

Wilson, M.J., A.E. Freundlich and C.T. Martine. 2017. Understory dominance and the new climax: Impacts of Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) invasion on native plant diversity and recruitment in a riparian woodland. Biodiversity Data Journal 5: e20577.

Martine, C.T. 2017. Mabey, R. Review of The Cabaret of Plants (W.W. Norton and Company, 2015). Quarterly Review of Biology 92 (4): 481.

Lacey, L.M., J.T. Cantley, and C.T. Martine. 2017. Solanum jobsonii, a novel andromonoecious bush tomato from a new Australian national park. PhytoKeys 82: 1-13.

Monfils, A.K., K.E. Powers, C. Marshall, C.T. Martine, J.F. Smith, and L.A. Prather. 2017. Natural history collections: Teaching about biodiversity across time, space, and digital platforms. Southeastern Naturalist 16 (Special Issue): 47-57.

Martine, C.T., J.T. Cantley, E.S. Frawley, A.R. Butler, I.E. Jordon-Thaden. 2016. New functionally dioecious bush tomato from northwestern Australia, Solanum ossicruentum, may utilize "trample burr" dispersal. PhytoKeys 63: 19-29

Cantley J.T., D. Frohlich, C.T. Martine. 2016. Multiple records of monoecy and leakiness in dioecious taxa of Hawaiian Coprosma spp. (Rubiaceae). Records of the Hawaiian Biological Survey: Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 118: 9-12.

Martine, C.T., A.J. Boni, E.A. Capaldi, G.E. Lionheart, and I.E. Jordon-Thaden. 2016. Evidence of rock kangaroo seed dispersal via fecal seed storage in a tropical monsoon community. Northern Territory Naturalist 27: 68-77.

Martine, C.T., E.S. Frawley, J.T. Cantley and I.E. Jordon-Thaden. 2016. Solanum watneyi, a new bush tomato species from the Northern Territory, Australia named for Mark Watney of the book and film "The Martian."PhytoKeys 61: 1-13.

Martine, C.T., S.F. Langdon, T. Shearman, C. Binggeli and T. Mihuc. 2015. European frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) in the Champlain/Adirondack Region: Recent inferences. Rhodora 117(972): 499-504.

Martine, C.T. and A.S. Hale. 2015. Parasitism disruption a likely consequence of belowground war waged by exotic plant invader. American Journal of Botany 102:1-2.

Martine, C.T. 2014. Teaching is a powerful credential. Science Careers 3/24/14

Martine, C.T., D.E. Symon and E. Evans. 2013. A new cryptically dioecious species of bush tomato (Solanum) from the Northern Territory, Australia. PhytoKeys 30: 23-32.

Martine, C.T. and M. Ward. 2013. Establishment of new regional herbarium leads to more than 200 new flora atlas records for New York State. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 140(1): 125-131.

Martine, C.T. and E. Quarta. 2012. Exotic Elsholtzia ciliata (Lamiaceae) abundant in the Ausable River Delta. Rhodora114(959): 334-336.

Edelstein, E. and C.T. Martine. 2012. Status of Streptopus amplexifolius (Liliaceae) in Clinton County, NY. Rhodora 114(959): 331-333.

BOOKS

Martine, C.T., R.A. Figley and A. Hansens. 2017. Trees of New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic States. Seventh Edition. New Jersey Forest Service, NJDEP: Jackson, NJ.

Martine, C.T. and R.A. Figley. 2007. Shrubs and Vines of New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic States. Second Edition. New Jersey Forest Service, NJDEP: Jackson, NJ.

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