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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

John Kress

Research Botanist Emeritus (Zingiberales)
Department / Division
Botany
Education
  • B.A., Harvard University
  • Ph.D., Duke University
Research Interests

Systematic Biology: systematics of Heliconia and other Zingiberales, especially with regards to reproductive biology, allozyme and molecular variation, and cladistic relationships; generic concepts in the Zingiberales; phylogeny and evolution of the monocotyledons.`Evolutionary Biology: plant reproductive biology; the evolution of breeding and pollination systems; genetic diversity and speciation in tropical angiosperms.`Conservation Biology: forest fragmentation, gene flow, and genetic variation in tropical and temperate plant species.

Publications
Book
  • Kress, W. John. 2024. Smithsonian Trees of North America. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.16738701.
  • Kress, W. John and Stine, Jeffrey K., editors. 2017. Living in the Anthropocene: Earth in the Age of Humans. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
  • Singer, Jonathan, Kress, W. John, and Hachadourian, Marc. 2013. Botanica magnifica: portraits of the world's most extraordinary flowers & plants. 1st Tiny Folio ed. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers.
  • Krupnick, Gary A. and Kress, W. John. 2005. Plant Conservation: A Natural History Approach. University of Chicago Press.
  • Kress, W. John and Barrett, G. W. 2001. A New Century of Biology. Smithsonian Institution Press in association with the American Institute of Biological Sci.
  • Kress, W. John, Betancur, J., and Echeverry, B. 1999. Heliconias - Llamaradas de la selva colombiana. Cristina Uribe Editores.
  • Berry, F. and Kress, W. John. 1991. Heliconia: An Identification Guide. Smithsonian Institution Press.
Journal Article

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Dataset
Conference Proceedings
  • Fér, Tomáš, Schmickl, Roswitha E., Záveská, Eliška, Pospíšilová, Monika, Leong-Škorničková, Jana, Otakar, Ší, Poulsen, Axel D., Newman, Mark F., Kress, W. John, and Marhold, Karol. 2015. "Reconstruction of the Phylogeny of the family Zingiberaceae using HYB-SEQ approach." 10–11. Kerala, India: Calicut University.
Book Chapter
  • Erickson, David L. and Kress, W. John. 2012. "Future directions." In DNA Barcodes: Methods and Protocols. 459–465. Humana Press. 858 in Methods in molecular biology. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-591-6_23.
  • Kress, W. John and Erickson, David L. 2012. "DNA barcodes: methods and protocols." In DNA Barcodes: Methods and Protocols. 3–8. Humana Press. In Methods in molecular biology, 858. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-591-6_1.
  • Kress, W. John, Lopez, Ida C., and Erickson, David L. 2012. "Generating Plant DNA Barcodes for Trees in Long-Term Forest Dynamics Plots." In DNA Barcodes. Kress, W. John and Erickson, David L., editors. 441–458. Humana Press. In Methods in Molecular Biology, 858.
  • Andersson, L. L., Kress, W. John, and Maas, P. J. M. 2007. "Heliconiaceae." In Checklist of the Plants of the Guiana Shield (Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro; Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana). Funk, Vicki Ann, Hollowell, Thomas H., Berry, P. E., Kelloff, Carol L., and Alexander, Sara N., editors. 110. Washington D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. In Contributions from the United States National Herbarium.
  • Bruna, Emilio M. and Kress, W. John. 2005. "Forest fragmentation and tropical plant-animal interactions in Brazil." In Plant conservation: a natural history approach. Krupnick, Gary A. and Kress, W. John, editors. 141–146.
  • Kress, W. John and Funk, Vicki Ann. 2005. "Herbarium, floras, and checklists." In Plant conservation: a natural history approach. Krupnick, Gary A. and Kress, W. John, editors. 209–217.
  • Kress, W. John and Funk, Vicki Ann. 2005. "Herbarium collections, floras, and checklists." In Plant Conservation: A natural history approach. Krupnick, Gary A. and Kress, W. John, editors. 209–218.
  • Kress, W. John and Horvitz, C. 2005. "Habitat alteration in the Caribbean: natural and human-induced." In Plant conservation: a natural history approach. Krupnick, Gary A. and Kress, W. John, editors. 147–150.
  • Kress, W. John and Krupnick, Gary A. 2005. "Conclusions: Documenting and conserving plant diversity in the future." In Plant Conservation: A Natural History Approach. Krupnick, Gary A. and Kress, W. John, editors. 313–318.
  • Kress, W. John and Specht, C. D. 2005. "Between Cancer and Capricorn: phylogeny, evolution, and ecology of the tropical Zingiberales." In Proceedings of a symposium on plant diversity and Proceedings of a symposium on plant diversity and complexity patterns -- local, regional and global dimensions. Friis, I. and Balslev, Henrik, editors. 459–478.
  • Liu, A. Z. and Kress, W. John. 2005. "The Gaoligong Moutains of Southwest China and Northeast Myanmar." In Plant conservation: a natural history approach. Krupnick, Gary A. and Kress, W. John, editors. 86–92.
  • ten Kate, K. and Kress, W. John. 2005. "Laws and treaties: is the Convention on Biological Diversity protecting plant diversity?" In Plant conservation: a natural history approach. Krupnick, Gary A. and Kress, W. John, editors. 286–293.
  • Kress, W. John. 2002. "Globalization and botanical inventory." In Proceedings of the Nepal-Japan Joint Symposium on Ÿ_oThe Himalayan plants, Can they save us?Ÿ__. Watanabe, T., Takano, A., Bista, M. S., and Saiju, H. K., editors. 6–8.
  • Barrett, G. W. and Kress, W. John. 2001. "Introduction: The new revolution in biology." In A new century of biology. Kress, W. John and Barrett, G. W., editors. 1–8.
  • Kress, W. John and Barrett, G. W. 2001. "Preface: A new century of biology." In A new century of biology. Kress, W. John and Barrett, G. W., editors. xi–xiii.
  • Kress, W. John and Prince, L. M. 2000. "Family 218. Cannaceae Jussieu." In Flora of North America North of Mexico. Flora of North America Editorial Committee, editor. 22.
  • Kress, W. John and Whittemore, Alan T. 2000. "Family 215. Heliconiaceae (A. Richard) Nakai." In Flora of North America North of Mexico. Flora of North America Editorial Committee, editor. 22.
  • Teece, M. A., Tuross, Noreen C., Kress, W. John, Peterson, Paul M., Russell, G., and Fogel, Marilyn L. 2000. "Preservation of proteins in museum herbarium samples." In Perspectives in Amino Acid and Protein Geochemistry. Goodfriend, G. A., Collins, Martin J., Fogel, Marilyn L., Macko, S. A., and Wehmiller, J., editors. 83–87.
  • Kress, W. John. 1997. "Phylogeny of the Zingberanae: morphology and molecules." In Proceedings of the Second Symposium on the Family Zingiberaceae. Wu, L., Wu, G., and Chen, Y., editors. 122–141.
  • Betancur, J. and Kress, W. John. 1995. "Distribucion geografica y altitudinal del genero Heliconia (Heliconiaceae) en Colombia." In Biodiversity and conservation of neotropical montane forests. Churchill, S. P., Balslev, Henrik, Forero, E., and Luteyn, James L., editors. 513–523.
  • Kress, W. John. 1995. "Phylogeny of Zingiberanae: morphology and molecules." In Monocotyledons: systematics and evolution. Rudall, P., editor. 443–460.
  • Kress, W. John and Beach, J. H. 1994. "Flowering plant reproductive systems at La Selva Biological Station." In La Selva: Ecology and natural history of a neotropical rain forest. McDade, L. A., Bawa, K. S., Hespenheide, H., and Hartshorn, G., editors. 161–182.
  • Stone, D. E. and Kress, W. John. 1992. "The application of transmission electron microscopy and cytochemistry in palynology." In Ertdman's Handbook of Palynology, Second Edition. Nilsson, S. and Praglowski, J., editors. 432–467.
  • Kress, W. John. 1990. "The systematic distribution of vascular epiphytes." In Phylogeny and ecophysiology of epiphytes. Luttge, U., editor. 234–261.
  • Kress, W. John. 1990. "Heliconiaceae." In Manual of the flowering plants of Hawai'i. Wagner, Warren L., Herbst, D. R., and Sohmer, S. H., editors. 1440–1442.
  • Kress, W. John. 1986. "Exineless pollen structure and pollination systems of tropical Heliconia (Heliconiaceae)." In Pollen and spores: form and function. Blackmore, Stephen H. and Ferguson, I. K., editors. 329–345.
  • Kress, W. John. 1985. "Pollination and reproductive biology of Heliconia." In The botany and natural history of Panama. D'Arcy, William G. and Correa A., Mireya D., editors. 267–271.
  • Kress, W. John and Stone, D. E. 1983. "Pollen intine structure, cytochemistry and function in monocots." In Pollen: biology and implications for plant breeding. Mulcahy, D. L. and Ottaviano, E., editors. 159–163.

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Book Review
  • Kress, W. John. 1996. [Book review] "Diversity and Evolutionary Biology of Tropical Flowers." Quart.Rev.Biol., 71, 124–125.
  • Kress, W. John. 1990. [Book review] "Flora Novo-Galiciana, Volume 15, Bromeliaceae to Dioscoreaceae." Systematic Botany, 15, 347–348.