Petlewski, Alaina Rousseau2020-08-102020-08-102020-05Petlewski_cornell_0058O_10872http://dissertations.umi.com/cornell:10872https://hdl.handle.net/1813/70269105 pagesThis thesis consists of three chapters addressing disparate topics in seed-free plant biology. Firstly, I begin to describe the endophyte communities of lycophytes by identifying the culturable endophytes of five Lycopodiaceae species. Microbial endophytes are integral factors in plant evolution, ecology, and physiology. However, the endophyte communities of all major groups of land plants have yet to be characterized. Secondly, I begin to re-evaluate the systematics of a historically perplexing genus, Dendrolycopodium (Lycopodiaceae). Lastly, I assess the status of developing fern model systems and discuss possible future directions for this work.enfernsLycophytesmodel systemsplant-microbe interactionssystematicsdissertation or thesishttps://doi.org/10.7298/4v8p-px28