Biography
Born and raised in the Florida Keys, it has been my good fortune to be surrounded by tropical hardwood hammock, the Atlantic Ocean and Florida Bay. My mother, Donna N. Sprunt, was the owner and operator of a native plant nursery and my father Alexander "Sandy" Sprunt, IV, followed the footsteps of his father, Alexander Sprunt, Jr. as a life-long activist in conservation through the Research Department of the National Audubon Society. While both of my parents are indeed extraordinary people, it was the extensive traveling with my father that has had the greatest influence in my interest in botany, conservation biology, education and the Caribbean Basin.I attended the University of Florida for my undergraduate studies with a major in Horticulture. I returned to the Florida Keys and opened an environmental consulting business primarily conducting habitat delineations, environmental assessments, and preparing restoration plans. While maintaining the business I attended graduate school at Florida International University in landscape architecture with special emphasis on natural areas planning. Currently I am completing a doctoral program in botany at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. My major advisor is Dr. R.J. Hickey.
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Education
B.S. (Horticulture) University of Florida, Gainesville, FloridaM.L.A. (Landscape Architecture) Florida International University, Miami, Florida
Ph.D. (Botany) Miami University, Oxford, Ohio (in progress)
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Research Interest
I have broad interests in plant taxonomy and morphology, conservation biology, plant systematics, and natural history of The Bahamas and Florida Keys.My dissertation research involves the systematics of the epiphytic fern species Pleopeltis polypodioides (resurrection fern). This group is currently defined as six varieties/subspecies with a wide distribution in the New World and one subspecies in Southern Africa. I will be utilizing both morphological and molecular data to determine if the group is monophyletic and the relationship among the putative taxa. The molecular studies are being conducted with my co-advisor, Dr. Linda Watson (Oklahoma State University Stillwater), and in collaboration with Dr. Harald Schneider of the Natural History Museum in London.
Pleopeltis polypodioides var. polypodioides |
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Business
Environmental Consulting Systems, Inc. was created by me in 1989 and has been in abeyance since late 2004 so that I could concentrate fully on Ph.D. commitments. Environmental Consulting Systems, Inc. performs various environmental services primarily in Southern Florida and the Caribbean. Biological assessments such as habitat analysis, habitat delineations and floristic surveys as well as restoration plans and general environmental consulting are provided. Clients have included private contractors, architects, real estate agents and State and local governmental agencies.
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Curriculum vitae
PDF document to be posted soon. Currently available upon request.Back to top
Professional Memberships
American Fern Society (link)American Society of Plant Taxonomists (link)
Botanical Society of America (link)
International Association for Plant Taxonomy (link)
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Links
American Fern SocietyAmerican Society of Plant Taxonomists
Bahamas National Trust
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Contact Information
Post Office Box 66Tavernier, Florida 33070
(305) 852-1920
spruntsv@muohio.edu
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