Randall James Bayer

Randall James Bayer

Randall James Bayer (born 13 July 1955) is an American systematic botanist, published mostly as "R.J. Bayer", who was born in Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.

He spent childhood and attended public school in East Aurora, New York. He completed his B.Sc. with major in Plant Breeding and minor in Horticulture in 1978 from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; an M.Sc. in Systematic Botany in 1980 from the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; and a Ph.D. in Systematic Botany in 1984 from the Ohio State University with a dissertation on "Evolutionary Investigations in Antennaria". His interest in the genus Antennaria was inspired through noted evolutionary botanist, George Ledyard Stebbins (1906–2000), who was a visiting professor at the Ohio State University in 1978-1979.

His early academic career was as an Assistant Professor of Biology and Curator of the Benedict Herbarium (WOCB) at University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada (1984–1987). In 1987 he moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to take up the post of Assistant Professor of Botany and Curator of the Vascular Plant Herbarium (ALTA) at the University of Alberta (1987–1990). He was promoted to Associate Professor of Botany in 1990 and Professor of Botany in 1995. During his sabbatical year in 1994, he was Visiting Adjunct Scientist at Washington State University, Department of Botany. While at the University of Alberta he developed his research program on evolutionary studies in Antennaria (Asteraceae). He has become a well-known authority on the genus Antennaria and its associated polyploidy and apomixis. He has contributed taxonomic revisions of this genus to a number of North American floras.

In 1997, he emigrated to Canberra, Australia, where he became a Senior Principal Research Scientist with the CSIRO, Division of Plant Industry working at the Australian National Herbarium (CANB). He also became an Adjunct Reader in Botany at the Australian National University, Division of Botany and Zoology. He specializes in systematics and evolution of the Asteraceae (Gnaphalieae) of Australia and the world. Bayer also has expertise in taxonomy and molecular phylogeny of Citrus (Rutaceae)and its close relatives, which have great diversity in SE Asia. R.J. Bayer has published about 100 papers and book chapters in internationally recognized publications.

He has collected plants around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, United States of America, Canada, South America, southern Africa, Madagascar and western Europe. His collections are primarily deposited in various herbaria including ALTA and CANB with duplicates of many collections in CAN, CHR, DAO, F, MO, S, E, X, NBG, NSW, OS, P, PERTH, PRE, RM, TAN, US, and WOCB.

Publications

Book chapters

References

  1. "Author Query for 'R.J.Bayer'". International Plant Names Index.

External links