Chicago Botanic Garden

Plant Science — OUR SCIENTISTS

PHOTO: Andrea Tietmeyer KramerAndrea Tietmeyer Kramer

Executive Director, U.S. Office
Botanic Gardens Conservation International

B.A. Macalester College
Ph.D. (expected 2008) University of Illinois at Chicago


PUBLICATIONS
phone (847) 835-6971


I arrived at the Chicago Botanic Garden in 2000 as an intern to work with Garden scientists researching rare plant species in the Midwest, and was hired as an endangered plant specialist to work on a two-year project with the Center for Plant Conservation in 2001. In 2003, I was lucky enough to remain at the Garden as a research associate, a role that ultimately allowed me to become the Garden's first graduate student. I enrolled in the ecology and evolution Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with Dr. Mary Ashley as my advisor. I have performed my thesis research here at the Garden, working collaboratively with numerous Chicago Botanic Garden scientists, and plan to complete my doctoral thesis in December 2008.

I am currently the executive director of the U.S. office of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), which is hosted by the Chicago Botanic Garden. Headquartered at Kew Gardens in London, BGCI has worked for more than 20 years to mobilize and enable a global network of over 2,500 botanic gardens and conservation partners in 120 countries to collaboratively preserve and promote plant diversity for people and the planet.

Research Summary

My thesis research asks questions aimed at making plant restoration practices as economically feasible and successful as possible. My work takes place in the Great Basin, a region in the western United States that encompasses much of the state of Nevada and portions of surrounding states. Over one-third of the native plant and animal communities in the Great Basin are degraded by invasive species, which has led to increasingly large and intense wildfires in the region. I work collaboratively with other researchers and graduate students at the Chicago Botanic Garden (Dr. Jeremie Fant and Rebecca Tonietto), and we are part of a larger community of researchers studying how to successfully restore the Great Basin's native habitat.

I am currently working with three wildflower species (Penstemon, or beardtongue), trying to understand how genes (a.k.a. pollen and seeds) naturally move within and between populations. I will use my results to help restoration policies and techniques follow these natural patterns when restoring plants to disturbed habitat.

This work has served as the foundation for my doctoral thesis, and I have extended it to better understand what effects restoration practices may have on existing native plant populations. I received an EPA STAR (Science to Achieve Results) fellowship in 2005 to carry out this research.


Past Projects

As an endangered plant specialist, I managed a two-year, collaborative project (funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, or IMLS) to create CPC's National Collection of Endangered Plants website. This site outlines what the network of CPC-member botanic gardens are doing to help conserve more than 575 threatened and endangered plants in the United States, and details each species' current status, as well as management and research needs. This project was completed in December 2002, and the site is now hosted and continually updated on the Center for Plant Conservation's website at http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/NC_Choice.html.

As a Garden intern, I worked with Garden scientists on research aimed at understanding the population biology of threatened/endangered plant species in the Midwest (including Viola conspersa, Platanthera leucophaea, and Lespedeza leptostachya). This research helped form the basis for long-term monitoring protocols on rare species in the Chicago region in what is now the Garden's Plants of Concern program.

 

Publications

Kramer, A.T., J.L. Ison, M.V. Ashley, and H.F. Howe. 2008. The paradox of forest fragmentation genetics. Conservation Biology, published online early 9 June 2008.

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.

Davis, M.A., C. Curran, A. Tietmeyer, and A. Miller. 2005. Dynamic tree aggregation patterns in a species-poor temperate woodland disturbed by fire. Journal of Vegetation Science 16:167-174.

Tietmeyer, A. and P. Bristol. 2002. Potential Invasibility of Crabapple Species and Cultivars in the Chicago Region. Malus 16:3-11.


Oral Presentations

Kramer, A.T. 2008. Conserving plant species with wide ecological amplitude in the face of climate change: common garden studies on Penstemon species in the western U.S. 2nd World Botanic Garden Scientific Congress: Challenges in Botanical Research and Climate Change, Delft, The Netherlands.

Kramer, A.T. 2007. Successful restoration of plant communities: why pollinators matter <http://www.chicagobotanic.org/downloads/staff/kramer/Kramer_071907DonorTalk.pdf>. Lecture at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL.

Kramer, A.T., J. Fant, R. Tonietto and K. Havens. 2006. Ecotypes in Penstemon: Insights from Molecular and Quantitative Studies. Ecology and Evolution Departmental Seminar, University of Illinois, Chicago.

Kramer, A.T., J. Fant, R. Tonietto and K. Havens. 2006. Ecotypes in Penstemon: Insights from Molecular and Quantitative Studies. Intermountain Native Plant Summit; March 28-30; Boise, ID.

Tietmeyer, A., A. Day, and M.A. Davis. 1998. Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Oak Savanna Bird Species. Minnesota Academy of Science-Winchell Symposium. Winona, MN.


Posters

Kramer, A.T., J.B Fant, R. Tonietto and M.V. Ashley. 2007. Understanding genetic diversity to guide restoration practice. University of Illinois, Chicago. Biological Sciences Graduate Research Symposium. Chicago, Illinois.

Kramer, A.T., J. Fant, R. Tonietto and M. Ashley. 2006. Plant population genetics in the Great Basin (U.S.A.): Outbreeding depression and implications for restoration. EPA STAR Graduate Fellows Conference. Washington, D.C.

Kramer, A.T., J. Fant, R. Tonietto and M. Ashley. 2006. Plant population genetics in the Great Basin (U.S.A.): Outbreeding depression and implications for restoration. Janet Meakin Poor Research Symposium. Chicago Botanic Garden, IL.

Fant, J. and A.T. Kramer. October 2004. Post Fire Restoration of the Great Basin: Seed Ecology. Janet Meakin Poor Research Symposium, Chicago Botanic Garden.

Fant, J. and A.T. Kramer. November 2004. Post Fire Restoration of the Great Basin: Seed Ecology. Intermountain Native Plant Summit, Boise State University.

Bristol, P. and A. Tietmeyer. 2002. Potential Invasibility of Crabapple Species and Cultivars in the Chicago Region. International Symposium: Invasive Plants: Global Issues, Local Challenges. Chicago, IL.

Vitt, P., K. Bradford, and A. Tietmeyer. 2001. Demographics of state-threatened Viola conspersa. Janet Meakin Poor Research Symposium, Chicago Botanic Garden.

Tietmeyer, A., A. Day, and M.A. Davis. 1997. Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Oak Savanna Bird Species. PEW Undergraduate Research Symposium. St. Louis, MO.