About

Christina Davis is the Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics and the Director of the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University. Her research interests and teaching bridge international relations and comparative politics, with a focus on trade policy. Her areas of expertise include the politics and foreign policy of Japan, East Asia, and the European Union, as well as the study of international organizations.

Research topics

• Biology
• Computer Science
• Geography
• Ecology
• Data science
• Database
• Botany
• Genetics
• Telecommunications
• Evolutionary biology
• Archaeology
• World Wide Web

Selected publications

• Widespread homogenization of plant communities in the Anthropocene

  Nature Communications · 2021 · 162 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Ecology
  • Biology
  • Geography

  Native biodiversity decline and non-native species spread are major features of the Anthropocene. Both processes can drive biotic homogenization by reducing trait and phylogenetic differences in species assemblages between regions, thus diminishing the regional distinctiveness of biotas and likely have negative impacts on key ecosystem functions. However, a global assessment of this phenomenon is lacking. Here, using a dataset of >200,000 plant species, we demonstrate widespread and temporal decreases in species and phylogenetic turnover across grain sizes and spatial extents. The extent of homogenization within major biomes is pronounced and is overwhelmingly explained by non-native species naturalizations. Asia and North America are major sources of non-native species; however, the species they export tend to be phylogenetically close to recipient floras. Australia, the Pacific and Europe, in contrast, contribute fewer species to the global pool of non-natives, but represent a disproportionate amount of phylogenetic diversity. The timeline of most naturalisations coincides with widespread human migration within the last ~500 years, and demonstrates the profound influence humans exert on regional biotas beyond changes in species richness.

  DOI

• Prickly waterlily and rigid hornwort genomes shed light on early angiosperm evolution

  Nature Plants · 2020 · 168 citations

  • Biology
  • Evolutionary biology
  • Botany

  . A key reason for this impasse is the paucity of complete genomes representing early-diverging angiosperms. Here, we present high-quality, chromosomal-level genome assemblies of two aquatic species-prickly waterlily (Euryale ferox; Nymphaeales) and the rigid hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum; Ceratophyllales)-and expand the genomic representation for key sectors of the angiosperm tree of life. We identify multiple independent polyploidization events in each of the five major clades (that is, Nymphaeales, magnoliids, monocots, Ceratophyllales and eudicots). Furthermore, our phylogenomic analyses, which spanned multiple datasets and diverse methods, confirm that Amborella and Nymphaeales are successively sister to all other angiosperms. Furthermore, these genomes help to elucidate relationships among the major subclades within Mesangiospermae, which contain about 350,000 species. In particular, the species-poor lineage Ceratophyllales is supported as sister to eudicots, and monocots and magnoliids are placed as successively sister to Ceratophyllales and eudicots. Finally, our analyses indicate that incomplete lineage sorting may account for the incongruent phylogenetic placement of magnoliids between nuclear and plastid genomes.

  DOI

• Digitization and the Future of Natural History Collections

  BioScience · 2020 · 299 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Data science

  Abstract Natural history collections (NHCs) are the foundation of historical baselines for assessing anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity. Along these lines, the online mobilization of specimens via digitization—the conversion of specimen data into accessible digital content—has greatly expanded the use of NHC collections across a diversity of disciplines. We broaden the current vision of digitization (Digitization 1.0)—whereby specimens are digitized within NHCs—to include new approaches that rely on digitized products rather than the physical specimen (Digitization 2.0). Digitization 2.0 builds on the data, workflows, and infrastructure produced by Digitization 1.0 to create digital-only workflows that facilitate digitization, curation, and data links, thus returning value to physical specimens by creating new layers of annotation, empowering a global community, and developing automated approaches to advance biodiversity discovery and conservation. These efforts will transform large-scale biodiversity assessments to address fundamental questions including those pertaining to critical issues of global change.

  DOI

Recent grants

• DDEP: The clusioid clade (Malpighiales): Systematics, biogeography, and horizontal gene transfer; Brazil

  NSF · $15k · 2009–2012

• AToL: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Resolving the Trunk of the Angiosperm Tree and Twelve of its Thorniest Branches

  NSF · $164k · 2004–2006

• DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Systematics and Evolution of Neotropical Bell-Flowers (Lobelioideae)

  NSF · $15k · 2012–2015

• COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Systematics and Evolution of Malpighiaceae

  NSF · $261k · 2006–2010

• Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: Bringing Asia to digital life: mobilizing underrepresented Asian herbarium collections in the US to propel biodiversity discovery

  NSF · $1.6M · 2021–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Zhenxiang Xi

  State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering

  50 shared

• Charles D. Bell

  University of New Orleans

  49 shared

• Sarah Mathews

  Louisiana State University

  48 shared

• Aaron M. Ellison

  Harvard University

  44 shared

• Peter W. Fritsch

  Botanical Research Institute of Texas

  40 shared

• Daniel Park

  Purdue University West Lafayette

  37 shared

• Kenneth J. Wurdack

  National Museum of Natural History

  34 shared

• Liming Cai

  Northeast Agricultural University

  31 shared

Education

• PhD, Organismic and Evoluitonary Biology

  Harvard University

  2002

• Master of Arts, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

  Harvard University

  1999

• Bachelor of Arts

  University of Michigan

  1997

Similar researchers at Harvard University

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• JoAnn E Mansonh-359
• Randy L. Bucknerh-268
• Edward Giovannuccih-267
• Kristen Andersonh-263