Education

Ph.D. - Botany, University of California, Davis (1986)
M.S. - Biology, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California (1979)
B.S. - Biology (summa cum laude), California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California (1977)
A.A. - Pre-medicine, Mount San Antonio College, Walnut, California (1974)

Research & Teaching Interests

Ecology of metal hyperaccumulation by plants, natural history and management of rare Southeastern plant species.

Selected Publications

Boyd, R.S. 2012. Plant defense using toxic inorganic ions: Conceptual models of the Defensive Enhancement and Joint Effects Hypotheses. Plant Science 195:88-95.

Boyd, R.S., A. Teem and M.A. Wall. 2011. Floral biology of an Alabama population of the federally endangered plant, Xyris tennesseensis Kral (Xyridaceae). Castanea 76:255-265.

Goertzen, L.R., J.L. Trusty and R.S. Boyd. 2011. Clonal diversity and structure in the endangered Alabama leather flower Clematis socialis Kral (Ranunculaceae). Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 138:41-51.

Boyd, R.S. 2010. Elemental defenses of plants by metals. Nature Education Knowledge 1(8):6.

Boyd, R.S. 2010. Heavy metal pollutants and chemical ecology: Exploring new frontiers. Chemoecology DOI: 10.1007/s10886-009-9730-5

Boyd, R.S. 2009. High-nickel insects and nickel hyperaccumulator plants: A review. Insect Science 16:19-31.

Boyd, R.S., A.R. Kruckeberg and N. Rajakaruna. 2009. Biology of ultramafic rocks and soils: Research goals for the future. Northeastern Naturalist 16:422-440.

Boyd, R.S., M.A. Wall and T. Jaffré. 2009. Do tropical nickel hyperaccumulators mobilize metals into epiphytes? A test using bryophytes from New Caledonia. Northeastern Naturalist 16:139-154.

Boyd, R.S., M.A. Davis, M.A. Wall and K. Balkwill. 2009. Host plant-herbivore studies on Chrysolina clathrata (Clark) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from Mpumalanga, South Africa. Insect Science 16:81-88.

Boyd, R.S., M.A. Wall, S.R. Santos and M.A. Davis. 2009. Variation of morphology and elemental concentrations in the California nickel hyperaccumulator Streptanthus polygaloides (Brassicaceae). Northeastern Naturalist 16:21-38.

Courses