Curriculum Vitae
I am an evolutionary biologist with a broad interest in genetic and ecological aspects of plant adaptation. My current research focuses on the transgenerational effects of stress in plants. I use apomictic dandelions as a model system. Apomicts produce clonal seeds and apomictic lineages are considered evolutionary dead ends because their limited genetic variation makes it difficult to adaptively respond to a changing environment. However, within-lineage variation may be generated via genetic and/or nongenetic responses to environmental stress. Several interesting maternal effects are observed in dandelions. For instance, manipulation of root:shoot ratio in response to nutrient stress is more pronounced in plants whose parents had also experienced nutrient stress. Heritable epigenetic variation is also generated by environmental stress in dandelions: several stresses induce changes in genomic methylation patterns that are subsequently transferred to offspring (as demonstrated via methylation-sensitive AFLPs). It is also likely that stress reactivates transposons, for instance via a release of methylation-based silencing mechanisms, and this can contribute to genetic variation within lineages. I am exploring environment-induced transgenerational effects, hoping to gain insight in the potential that these processes have to affect plant adaptation and evolution.
Other topics of ongoing and previous work include:
- Ecological and genetic factors that affect biological invasions
- Sex-asex variation in dandelions and the role that plant pathogens play in the evolutionary maintenance of sexual reproduction (VENI project, Netherlands Institute of Ecology)
- Statistical data analysis - I give statistical support in a variety of collaborative projects
- QTL mapping in natural populations and interconnected mapping populations (computer simulations, postdoc at Purdue University, Indiana ,US)
- Genetic basis of local adaptation in wild barley populations (PhD work, Utrecht University and Netherlands Institute of Ecology)
CV:
- 2009 - 2011: fixed-term research scientisct, Dept. Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology; and Laboratory of Nematology, WUR, Wageningen.
- 2005 - 2009: Researcher with the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-CTE). Personal NWO-VENI grant for innovative research to study the role of pathogens in driving the evolution of sexual reproduction in dandelions.
- 2003 - 2005: Postdoc with Dr Lauren McIntyre, Computational Genomics, Purdue University. Computer simulation studies for QTL detection in natural populations and in diallel mating designs.
- 1998 - 2003: PhD studies in plant evolutionary ecology, carried out at the Department of Plant Population Biology of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and at the Institute of Evolution, Haifa University. Defended thesis at Utrecht University.
- 1996 - 1998: Projects for rainforest conservation in Costa Rica, carried out via Bioproca Foundation and Wageningen University.
- 1995: MSc in Ecology, University of Nijmegen.
Selected Publications
coming soon:
Meisner A, W de Boer, KJF Verhoeven, HTS Boschker & WH van der Putten. Aboveground and belowground resource use and nutrient cycling in range-expanding exotic plants versus congeneric natives. (submitted)
Verhoeven KJF, M Macel, LM Wolfe & A Biere. Population admixture, plant invasions and the downside of local adaptation. (submitted)
Brinkman EP, WH van der Putten, EJ Bakker & KJF Verhoeven. Plant-soil feedback: Experimental approaches, statistical analyses and biological interpretations. (submitted).
Verhoeven KJF, G Casella & LM McIntyre. Epistasis: Obstacle or advantage for mapping complex traits? PlosONE (in revision)
Harvey JA, A Biere, T Fortuna, LEM Vet, T Engelkes, E Morrien, R Gols, KJF Verhoeven, H Vogel, M Macel, HM Heidel-Fischer, K Schramm & WH van der Putten. Ecological fits, misfits and lotteries involving insect herbivores on the invasive plant Bunias orientalis Biological Invasions (accepted for publication)
published:
Verhoeven KJF, JJ Jansen, PJ van Dijk & A Biere (2010). Stress-induced DNA methylation changes and their heritability in asexual dandelions. New Phytologist. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.03121.x
Verhoeven KJF, PJ van Dijk & A Biere (2010). Changes in genomic methylation patterns during the formation of triploid asexual dandelion lineages. Molecular Ecology 19: 315-324. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04460.x
Verhoeven KJF, A Biere, JA Harvey & WF van der Putten (2009). Plant Invaders and their novel natural enemies: who is naive? Ecology Letters 12: 107-117 (pdf)
Engelkes T, E Morrien, KJF Verhoeven, TM Bezemer, A Biere, JA Harvey, LM McIntyre, WLM Tamis & WH van der Putten (2008). Successful range-expanding plants experience less above-ground and below-ground enemy impact. Nature 456: 946-948 (pdf)
Biere A & KJF Verhoeven (2008). Local adaptation and the consequences of being dislocated from coevolved enemies. New Phytologist 180: 265-268 (commentary) (pdf)
Verhoeven KJF, H Poorter, E Nevo & A Biere (2008). Habitat-specific natural selection at a flowering-time QTL is a main driver of local adaptation in two wild barley populations. Molecular Ecology 17: 3416–3424 (pdf)
Verhoeven KJF, JL Jannink & LM McIntyre (2006). Using mating designs to uncover QTL and the genetic architecture of complex traits. Heredity 69: 139-149 (pdf)
Verhoeven KJF & K Simonsen (2005). Genomic haplotype blocks may not accurately reflect spatial variation in historic recombination intensity. Molecular Biology and Evolution 22(3): 735-740 (pdf)
Verhoeven KJF, K Simonsen & LM McIntyre (2005). Implementing false discovery rate control: increasing your power. Oikos 108: 643-647 (pdf)
Poorter H, CPE van Rijn, TK Vanhala, KJF Verhoeven, YEM de Jong, P Stam & H Lambers (2005). A genetic analysis of traits underlying fast- and slow-growth syndromes in Hordeum spontaneum. Oecologia 142: 360-377 (pdf)
Verhoeven KJF, TK Vanhala, A Biere, E Nevo & JMM van Damme (2004). The genetic basis of adaptive population differentiation: a QTL analysis of fitness traits in two wild barley populations from contrasting habitats. Evolution 58: 270-288 (pdf)
Verhoeven KJF, A Biere, E Nevo & JMM van Damme (2004). Can a genetic correlation with seed weight constrain adaptive evolution of seedling desiccation tolerance in wild barley? International Journal of Plant Sciences 165: 281-288 (pdf)
Verhoeven KJF, A Biere, E Nevo & JMM van Damme (2004). Differential selection of growth rate-related traits in wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum, in contrasting greenhouse nutrient environments. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 17: 184-196 (pdf)
Volis S, KJF Verhoeven, S Mendlinger & D Ward (2004). Phenotypic selection and regulation of reproduction in different environments in wild barley. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 17: 1121-1131 (pdf)
Downloads
Software:
tabulator.xls (831.5 KB)
A small Excel simulation utility to compare the performance of different statistical multiple testing alpha correction procedures, as an appendix to Verhoeven, Simonsen & McIntyre (2005) Oikos 108: 643-647
|
