Justin Scholten completed his first year as a PhD student and joined the Specht lab in Spring 2023. He earned a B.S. in plant sciences from Cornell University in 2022 and is broadly interested in the systematics and evolution of diverse monocotyledonous families, including Araceae and Orchidaceae. Justin’s prior research experience has involved investigating morphological species boundaries in Amorphophallus Bl. (Araceae) and triad hybridization in species of Chloraea Lindl. (Orchidaceae).
Justin is especially interested in the principles and evolutionary implications of hybridization, including the ecological and genomic mechanisms fascinating hybrid speciation. Current research efforts are focused on investigating cases of homoploid hybrid speciation in Japanese species of Arisaema Mart. (Araceae).
Justin served as a TA for the annual Plant Biology winter course to Patagonia with Dr. Kevin Nixon, and also supports the Tara Atluri Plant Biodiversity Internship Program held in the summers through the L.H. Bailey Hortorium Herbarium.
Publications:
Scholten J. 2023. An updated identification guide to the species of Amorphophallus (Araceae): new synonyms and a set of global dichotomous keys. Blumea 68 (2): 139–161. https://doi.org/10.3767/blumea.2023.68.02.03.
Scholten J., Livingston D., Sizemore M. 2024. A new Amorphophallus (Araceae) species from Thailand and an updated key to the Longituberosus and Saraburiensis subclades. Phytotaxa 633 (2): 101–107. https://doi.org/10.11646/PHYTOTAXA.633.2.1.