Victoria Sork

Early life and education

Sork was born in Los Angeles.[6] She earned her undergraduate degree in biological sciences at the University of California, Irvine.[7] She moved to the University of Michigan for her graduate studies where she was awarded a PhD in 1979 for research on seed dispersal in pignut hickory (Carya glabra).[8]

Research and career

Sork studies the evolution of trees in California's oak woodlands and savannas.[9][10] She believes that trees are crucial determinants of particular ecosystems and that their considerable population sizes offer a good context for the study of evolution.[11] Trees provide a living record of the changing climate, and scientists like Sork can sequence their genome to evaluate the impact of different environmental conditions.[12] Sork uses genetic markers to monitor gene flow and genomics to understand genetic variation.[11] She has focussed on Oaks (Quercus) and particularly Quercus lobata (Valley oaks), studying their local adaptation, the molecular ecology of their pollen, phylogeography of the genetic variation, hybridisation and how climate change will impact them.[9][11][13]

In the 2000s Sork started working with Jessica Wright of the Food and Drug Administration on a project that evaluated which trees would be most able to adapt to a changing climate.[14] This has involved gathering tens of thousands of seeds from almost one hundred locations, growing them to saplings in greenhouses and planting them in experimental gardens.[14] She sequenced the genomes of the mother trees to compare with current genetic information, and combined this with how well the trees grew in different environments.[14] She has investigated how the trees that are planted in the wake of the Californian wildfires will respond to a warming climate.[14][15] Her studies showed that genomics can be used to inform strategies for conservation, emphasising the need for planting trees that can withstand changing ecosystems and higher temperatures.[14][16] She showed that trees with "beneficial" genetic traits would have significantly higher growth rates than those without them.[14]

Sork is part of a $10 million conservation strategy, the California Conservation Genomics Project, which aims to transform land is managed in California.[17]

Academic service

She was appointed Chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2004.[6] In 2009 Sork was made Dean of the UCLA College of Letters and Science Life Sciences Division.[6][18] Under her leadership, UCLA have established new initiatives, including[6] the La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science,[19] and The Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden.[20]

Awards and honours

In 2004 Sork was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS).[21]

  • Molecular Ecology prize (2020)[22]

References
  1. Victoria Sork publications indexed by Google Scholar
  2. Sork, Victoria L.; Nason, John; Campbell, Diane R.; Fernandez, Juan F. (1999). "Landscape approaches to historical and contemporary gene flow in plants". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 14 (6): 219–224. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(98)01585-7. ISSN 0169-5347. PMID 10354623.
  3. Loiselle, Bette A.; Sork, Victoria L.; Nason, John; Graham, Catherine (1995). "Spatial genetic structure of a tropical understory shrub, Psychotria officinalis (Rubiaceae)". American Journal of Botany. 82 (11): 1420–1425. doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1995.tb12679.x. ISSN 0002-9122.
  4. Kelly, Dave; Sork, Victoria L. (2002). "Mast Seeding in Perennial Plants: Why, How, Where?". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 33 (1): 427–447. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.33.020602.095433. ISSN 0066-4162.
  5. Sork, Victoria L.; Bramble, Judy; Sexton, Owen (1993). "Ecology of Mast-Fruiting in Three Species of North American Deciduous Oaks". Ecology. 74 (2): 528–541. doi:10.2307/1939313. ISSN 0012-9658. JSTOR 1939313.
  6. "Victoria L. Sork". lifesciences.ucla.edu. UCLA. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  7. Regents, University of Michigan Board of (1972). Proceedings. The University.
  8. Sork, Victoria Louise (1979). Demographic Consequences of Mammalian Seed Dispersal for Pignut Hickory (PhD thesis). University of Michigan. OCLC 5822016. ProQuest 302924856.
  9. "Research in the Sork Lab". sorklab.eeb.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  10. "Victoria Sork". Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA. 2016-09-22. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  11. "Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | indivFaulty2". eeb.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  12. "Valley oak tree could provide insight into how plants will adapt to climate change". dailybruin.com. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  13. Browne, Luke; Wright, Jessica W.; Fitz-Gibbon, Sorel; Gugger, Paul F.; Sork, Victoria L. (2019). "Adaptational lag to temperature in valley oak (Quercus lobata) can be mitigated by genome-informed assisted gene flow". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (50): 25179–25185. doi:10.1073/pnas.1908771116. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 6911187. PMID 31767740.
  14. Colgan, David (2019-11-25). "One of California's iconic tree species offers lessons for conservation". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. Kinver, Mark (2019-12-05). "Genetics can play key role in saving trees". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  16. Browne, Luke; Wright, Jessica W.; Fitz-Gibbon, Sorel; Gugger, Paul F.; Sork, Victoria L. (2019-12-10). "Adaptational lag to temperature in valley oak (Quercus lobata) can be mitigated by genome-informed assisted gene flow". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (50): 25179–25185. doi:10.1073/pnas.1908771116. ISSN 0027-8424. PMID 31767740.
  17. Wolpert, Stuart; UCLA (2019-08-14). "UCLA to lead $10 million California conservation project". universityofcalifornia.edu. University of California. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  18. Women, UCLA Center for the Study of (2013-02-01). "Victoria Sork". escholarship.org.
  19. "$5 million gift from Morton La Kretz will support renovation of UCLA Botany Building". UCLA. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  20. "UCLA's Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden is ready for its close-up". UCLA. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  21. "Annual report" (PDF). www.aaas.org. 2004. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  22. https://molecularecologyblog.com/2020/05/04/victoria-sork-awarded-the-2020-molecular-ecology-prize/
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