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Chicago Botanic Garden

Plant Science — OUR SCIENTISTS

PHOTO: Jeremie Fant, Ph.D.Jeremie Fant, Ph.D.

Conservation Scientist, Molecular Ecology
Lab Manager

Ph.D., Genetics, Cambridge University, 1999


PUBLICATIONS
(847) 835-6959
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Research Interests

  • Restoration genetics
  • Genetic provenance
  • Rare and threatened species
  • Plant hybridization
  • Conservation of genetic diversity

The preservation of genetic diversity is an important objective of plant conservation and restoration efforts. Ecological genetics is the study of how evolutionary forces (adaptation, migration, etc.) shape the patterns of genetic diversity observed in nature. My research focuses on restoring and managing plant populations to allow these natural processes to continue in a changing environment — in particular, continued adaptation to local conditions and maintenance of natural pollen and seed dispersal patterns. Currently my species of interest include Eriogonum spp. (America buckwheat), Penstemon spp. (beardtongues) and Cirsium spp. (thistles).


TEACHING AND RESEARCH AFFILIATIONS

Adjunct professor, Biological Sciences, Northwestern University

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Member of the Ecological Society of America and the Botanical Society of America


Statement

Restoration genetics: investigating the genetic, demographic, and community factors that influence restoration success
Together with Drs. Andrea Kramer, Dan Larkin, and Krissa Skogen, I am investigating plant genetic, demographic, and community dynamics in intact and restored habitats to guide effective and efficient restoration in the western United States. Working with the Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau Native Plant Initiatives partners; the U.S. Forest Service; the Bureau of Land Management; state wildlife agencies; Northern Arizona University; and the Uncompahgre Plateau Project, we are developing an adequate supply of appropriate native plant materials to facilitate the enhancement, recovery, and/or restoration of landscapes throughout the region, as well as developing methodologies that ensure the establishment and persistence of restored native plant habitats.

Pollinators and restoration success
An important measure of restoration success is the reestablishment of ecological services, which includes pollinators. Working with a number of Northwestern students, we are investigating differences in pollinator communities in the western habitats to help ensure that restoration efforts not only reestablish plant communities, but all community-level processes.

Correlating demographic and genetic changes in population of rare and threatened species
Working with Morton Arboretum and Chicago State University, we are comparing long-term demographic data from two rare thistle species, Cirsium pitcheri and Cirsium hillii, to their genetic structure to best understand the long-term dynamics of natural and experimentally restored plant populations.

Pitcher's thistle (Cirsium pitcheri)
Kayri Havens, Pati Vitt, and I have compiled more than 10 years of genetic data in restored and native populations of Cirsium pitcheri, a federally listed endangered species.

Hill's thistle (Cirsium hillii)
With the help of Plants of Concern volunteers, we have been monitoring populations in the Chicago area for over eight years. In conjunction with our genetic work, we have established that Chicago-region populations are unique and genetically diverse and that both sexual and asexual reproduction have played important roles in the creation of most of these populations.

Hybridization in rare and threatened species
Working with a number of collaborators, we are investigating the potential threat of hybridization to populations of rare species, including Lantana depressa in Florida (Joyce Maschinski) and Lespedeza leptostachya in Minnesota (Alona Banai).

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Selected Publications

Kramer, A.T., J.B. Fant, and M. Ashley. 2011. Influences of landscape and pollinators on population genetic structure: Examples from three Penstemon (Plantaginaceae) species in the Great Basin. American Journal of Botany 98(1): 109–121.

Ribbens E., B.A Anderson, and J. Fant. 2011. Opuntia fragilis (Nuttall) Haworth in Illinois: Pad Dynamics and Sexual Reproduction Haseltonia 16(1):67-78.

Fant, J.B., A. Banai, K. Havens, and P. Vitt. 2010. Hybridization between the threatened plant Lespedeza leptostachya Englem. and its co-occurring congener Lespedeza capitata Michx.: morphological and molecular evidence. Conservation Genetics. 11(6): 2195-2205.

Maschinski J., E. Sirkin, and J.B. Fant. 2010. Using genetic and morphological analysis to distinguish endangered taxa from their hybrids with the cultivated exotic pest plant Lantana strigocamara (syn: Lantana camara). Conservation Genetics 11(5):1607-1621.

Fant, J.B., R.M. Holmstrom, E. Sirkin, J.R. Etterson, and S. Masi, S. 2008. Genetic structure of threatened native populations and propagules used for restoration in a clonal species Ammophila breviligulata (American beachgrass). Restoration Ecology 16(4):594-603.

Fant, J.B., Susanne Masi, J.M. Keller, and R. Mann. 2007. Investigating the reproductive health of Hill's thistle's (Cirsium hillii) populations in the Chicago Region. Chicago Wilderness Journal 5(1).

Kramer, A.T. and J.B. Fant. 2007. Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in Penstemon rostriflorus (Plantaginaceae) and cross species amplification. Molecular Ecology Notes 7(6):998-1001.

Fant, J.B., E. Kamau, and C.D. Preston. 2005. Chloroplast evidence for the hybrid origin of Potamogeton x fluitans. Aquatic Botany 83(2):154-160.

Fant, J.B. and C.D. Preston. 2004. Genetic structure and morphological variation of British populations of the hybrid Potamogeton x salicifolius Wolfg. Bot. J. Botanical Journal of the Lin. Society 144(1):99-112.

Fant, J.B., E. Kamau, and C.D. Preston. 2003. Chloroplast evidence for the hybrid origin of Potamogeton x sudermanicus Hagstr. Aquatic Botany 75(4):351-356.

Fant, J.B., C.D. Preston, and J.A. Barrett. 2001. Isozyme evidence of the hybrid origin of Potamogeton x sudermanicus as resulting from the cross between P. berchtoldii and P. acutifolius. Aquatic Botany 71(3):199-208.

Fant, J.B., C.D. Preston, and J.A. Barrett. 2001. Allozyme evidence of the parental origin and possible fertility of the hybrid Potamogeton x fluitans. Plant Systematics and Evolution 229(1-2):45-57.


GRADUATE STUDENTS

Kelly Ksiazek (Northwestern University, M.S)
Patterns of pollen limitation and seed set on Chicago green roofs

Ben Staehlin (M.S. completed in 2009)
Climate change impacts on Cirsium pitcheri restoration

Rebecca Tonietto (M.S. completed in 2009)
Bees of the Chicago region: Do rooftop gardens function as suitable habitat?

Alona Banai (M.S. completed in 2008)
Putative hybridization of federally threatened Lespedeza leptostachya
with common congener L. capitata (Fabaceae)

WEBSITES

Restoration of Cirsium pitcheri
Pitcher's thistle was extirpated from the Illinois shoreline of Lake Michigan in the early 1900s. It was reintroduced in former habitat at Illinois Beach State Park in 1991. Reintroduction of rare plant species is an emerging science that remains in its infancy, and little information is available to guide restoration design or the quantitative analysis of restoration success. Working in collaboration with scientists at Chicago State University, East Carolina University, the Morton Arboretum, and USGS, we are studying the demographic and genetic changes in the reintroduction of Pitcher's thistle (Cirsium pitcheri) to help us define and measure success.
http://www.pitchersthistle.org/staff/jfant.php

Conservation and Restoration in a Changing Environment
In the arid environments of the western United States, more than one third of the habitat in the region has been degraded by invasive species and changes in fire regimes. There is a great need to learn more about how to effectively restore these ecosystems. Some of the questions our research comprises include 1) What are the ecosystem services most at risk from climate change and/or invasive species? 2) What are “appropriate” sources of plant material to use in restoration; i.e., how far can seed be moved without having negative effects on restoration outcomes? 3) What are the best management practices to meet restoration goals? and 4) How can ecosystem functions in these degraded areas be restored in the face of a changing environment? This website provides information about ongoing projects with other garden scientists, Dan Larkin, Krissa Skogen, Andrea Kramer, Emily Yates, and Northwestern students.
http://groups.plantbiology.northwestern.edu/carice/