ËÄÉ«AV

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in the systematics, evolution, and biogeography of seaweeds and other aquatic flora. My interest in algae stems from their diversity and their roles in habitat formation and primary production in aquatic ecosystems. Algal systematics interests me because molecular data sets that are now obtainable have the power to answer long-standing questions about the identity, evolutionary history, and relationships among these organisms. Since many algae have relatively simple morphology, it is often difficult to make definitive identifications using morphological data alone. Similarly, the very complex morphology and many cases of parallel evolution of similar form in different clades among macroalgae makes identification challenging, particularly in cases where reproductive details are a critical feature of traditional identification. I view biogeography as an important intersection between taxonomy and ecology. Having a firm understanding of taxonomy is absolutely vital in order to ask any meaningful ecological questions, but applying taxonomic study at an ecological level makes it more applicable and facilitates questions of biodiversity, conservation, and management.

Selected Publications

Sherwood, A.R. and A.L. Carlile (accepted) Schimmelmannia (Acrosymphytales, Rhodophyta) - the first report of the genus in Hawaii. Pacific Science.

Carlile, A.L., C.J. O’Kelly and A.R. Sherwood. (2011) The green algal genus Cloniophora represents a new lineage in the Ulvales: proposal of Cloniophoraceae fam. nov. Journal of Phycology 47: 1379 - 1387

Carlile, A.L., T.O. Cho, and J.R. Waaland. 2010. The conspecificity of Ceramium pacificum and Ceramium washingtoniense (Ceramiaceae, Rhodophyta). Phycologia 49(4): 336 – 344.

Yang, E.C., G.Y. Cho, K. Kogame A.L. Carlile, and S.M. Boo. 2008. RuBisCO cistron sequence variation and phylogeography of Ceramium kondoi (Ceramiaceae, Rhodophyta). Botanica Marina 51(5): 370 – 377.