My research interests focuses on understanding the evolution and distribution of plants in deserts and other harsh environments. I have investigated this at several different scales from higher level studies such as my work on the systematics and biogeography of the Loasaceae to the population and species level with my studies of gypsum endemics. For these studies, I have used a combination of morphological, ecological and molecular approaches to understand the evolutionary relationships of these plants and their distribution. I also have interests in plant-animal interactions, and using pollen and packrat middens in paleo-vegetation and climate reconstruction.

I am currently working on a monographic revision of Mentzelia sect. Mentzelia (Loasaceae), which was part of my dissertation research at the University of Texas-Austin.  I am also continuing studies of a hybridizing complex of Acacia species in west Texas and northern Mexico, which was begun, during my postdoctoral work at the University of Georgia and the University of Arizona. I hope to expand my studies of plants growing in high gypsum content soils to some gypsum outcrops here in South Texas. 

I would welcome undergraduate and graduate students to the lab and herbarium who may have an interest in using molecular, morphological or ecological studies to understand plant evolution and diversity.

Dr. Cynthia Galloway
Head of the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Bryological Herbarium

The Texas A&M - Kingsville Bryological Herbarium is currently being established by Dr. Cynthia M. Galloway.  The collection focuses on the mosses and liverworts of south Texas but also includes collections from other locations in Texas as well as California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan and Georgia. At present the collection is unaccessioned but it is anticipated that approximately 1000+ specimens will be the core of the bryophyte collection.  The Bryological Herbarium at TAMUK represents the only working bryological herbarium in south Texas and one of the few in the state.

Dr. Galloway's interests in bryophytes are both taxonomic and physiological. Projects underway range from inventorying the bryophytes of Texas, county by county, to determine patterns of distribution and abundance, and determining the physiological and biochemical viability of desiccated and rehydrated bryophytes.  Attempts have been made to isolate genes associated with desiccation tolerance in bryophytes and a cDNA library constructed from desiccated Polytrichum juniperinum.