William (Ned) Friedman
Arnold Professor of Organismic
and Evolutionary Biology
Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
Phone: 617-384-7744
E-mail: ned@oeb.harvard.edu
Office: Arnold Arboretum
125 Arborway
Boston, MA 02130
Lab Website: http://www.oeb.harvard.edu/faculty/friedman
My research program focuses on the organismic interfaces between developmental, phylogenetic and evolutionary biology. Within the past fifteen years, remarkable advances in the study of the phylogenetic relationships of plants have provided the raw materials for critical studies of character evolution. Armed with hypotheses of relationships among organisms, I seek to explore how patterns of morphology, anatomy and cell biology have evolved through the modification of developmental processes. My work is primarily focused on the origin and subsequent diversification of flowering plants, Darwin's "abominable mystery."
Recent Publications
Wu, C.C., P.K. Diggle and W.E. Friedman. 2013. Kin recognition within a seed and the effect of genetic relatedness of an endosperm to its compatriot embryo on maize seed development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in press.
Friedman, W.E., J.B. Bachelier and J.I. Hormaza. 2012. Embryology in Trithuria submersa (Hydatellaceae) and relationships between embryo, endosperm, and perisperm in early-diverging flowering plants. American Journal of Botany 99: 1083-1095. | pdf
Bachelier, J.B. and W.E. Friedman. 2011. Female gamete competition in an ancient angiosperm lineage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108: 12360-12365. | pdf
Friedman, W.E. and P.K. Diggle. 2011. Charles Darwin and the origins of plant evolutionary developmental biology. Plant Cell 23: 1194-1207 | pdf
Wu, C.-C., P.K. Diggle and W.E. Friedman. 2011. Female gametophyte development and double fertilization in Balsas teosinte, Zea mays subsp. parviglumis (Poaceae). Sexual Plant Reproduction 24: 219-229. | pdf
Madrid, E.N. and W.E. Friedman. 2009. The developmental basis of an evolutionary diversification of female gametophyte structure in Piper and Piperaceae. Annals of Botany 103: 869-884. | pdf | commentary
Friedman, W.E. 2009. The meaning of Darwin's "abominable mystery." American Journal of Botany 96: 5-21. | pdf
Holloway, S.J. and W.E. Friedman. 2008. Embryological features of Tofieldia glutinosa and their bearing on the early diversification of monocotyledonous plants. Annals of Botany 102: 167-182. | pdf
Friedman, W.E., E.N. Madrid, and J.H. Williams. 2008. Origin of the fittest and survival of the fittest: relating female gametophyte development to endosperm genetics. International Journal of Plant Sciences 169: 79-92. | pdf
Friedman, W.E. 2006. Embryological evidence for developmental lability during early angiosperm evolution. Nature 441: 337-340. | pdf
Friedman W.E., R.C. Moore and M.D. Purugganan. 2004. The evolution of plant development. American Journal of Botany 91: 1726-1741. | pdf
