Patrick Sweeney

Ph.D., 2008, Department of Biology, University of Missouri–Saint Louis

M.S., 1999, Department of Botany, University of Georgia

B.S., 1994, Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University

His more recent taxonomic and systematic research focuses on Viburnum (Adoxaceae) and the mangosteens (the genus Garcinia, Clusiaceae). He is also interested in the North American flora and has conducted survey and inventory work in the eastern and central United States. Additionally, he has been heavily involved in several herbarium digitization projects, including the New England Vascular Plants, Lichen/Bryophyte, and the Pteridophyte Collections Consortium TCNs, among others.

Grima, P.P., Omand, K.A. and Sweeney, P., 2023. Euphorbia ipecacuanhae on Nantucket: a historical state record comes to light. Rhodora 123: 434-443. https://doi.org/10.3119/22-09

Albani Rocchetti G., Carta A., Mondoni A., Godefroid S., Davis C., Caneva G., Albrecht M., Alvarado K., Bijmoer R., Borosova R., Bräeuchler C., Breman E., Briggs M., Buord S., Cave L., Da Silva N., Davey A., Davies R., Dickie J., Fabillo M., Fleischmann A., Franks A., Hall G., Kantvilas G., Klak C., Liu U., Medina L., Reinhammar L., Sebola R., Schönberger I., Sweeney P., Voglmayr H., White A., Wieringa J., Zippel E., and Abeli T. 2022. Selecting the best candidates for resurrecting extinct-in-the-wild plants from herbaria. Nature Plants 8: 1385–1393. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01296-7

Donoghue, M. J., D. A. R. Eaton, C. A. Maya-lastra, M. J. Landis, P. W. Sweeney, M. E. Olson, N. I. Cacho, et al. 2022. Replicated radiation of a plant clade along a cloud forest archipelago. Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01823-x

Sweeney, P. W., T. Y. Nwe, and K. E. Armstrong. 2022. Garcinia yaatapsap (Clusiaceae), a new species from northern Myanmar. Phytotaxa 545: 121–127. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.545.2.1

Landis, M. J., D. A. R. Eaton, W. L. Clement, B. Park, E. L. Spriggs, P. W. Sweeney, E. J. Edwards, and M. J. Donoghue. 2020. Joint phylogenetic estimation of geographic movements and biome shifts during the global diversification of Viburnum. Systematic Biology: 1–54.

Pearson, K. D., G. I. L. Nelson, M. F. J. Aronson, P. Bonnet, L. Brenskelle, C. C. Davis, E. G. Denny, et al. 2020. Machine Learning Using Digitized Herbarium Specimens to Advance Phenological Research. BioScience 70: 610–620.

Spriggs, E.L., Schlutius, C., Eaton, D.A., Park, B., Sweeney, P.W., Edwards, E.J., & Donoghue, M.J. 2019. Differences in flowering time maintain species boundaries in a continental radiation of Viburnum. American Journal of Botany 106: 833–84.

Lorieul, T., Pearson, K.D., Ellwood, E.R., Goëau, H., Molino, J., Sweeney, P.W., Yost, J.M., Sachs, J., Mata‐Montero, E., Nelson, G., Soltis, P.S., Bonnet, P., & Joly, A. 2019. Toward a large‐scale and deep phenological stage annotation of herbarium specimens: Case studies from temperate, tropical, and equatorial floras. Applications in Plant Sciences 7: e01233.

Park, B., Sinnott-Armstrong, M., Schlutius, C., Zuluaga, J.-C.P., Spriggs, E.L., Simpson, R.G., Benavides, E., Landis, M.J., Sweeney, P.W., Eaton, D.A.R., & Donoghue, M.J. 2019. Sterile marginal flowers increase visitation and fruit set in the hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides, Adoxaceae) at multiple spatial scales. Annals of Botany 123: 381–390.

Spriggs, E.L., Eaton, D.A.R., Sweeney, P.W., & Schlutius, C. 2019. RAD-seq data reveal a cryptic Viburnum species on the North American Coastal Plain. Systematic Biology 68: 187–203.

Daru, B.H., Park, D.S., Primack, R.B., Willis, C.G., Barrington, D.S., Whitfeld, T.J.S., Seidler, T.G., Sweeney, P.W., Foster, D.R., Ellison, A.M., & Davis, C.C. 2018. Widespread sampling biases in herbaria revealed from large-scale digitization. New Phytologist 217: 939–955.

Ellwood, E.R., Kimberly, P., Guralnick, R., Flemons, P., Love, K., Ellis, S., Allen, J.M., Best, J.H., Carter, R., Chagnoux, S., Costello, R., Denslow, M.W., Dunckel, B.A., Ferriter, M.M., Gilbert, E.E., Goforth, C., Groom, Q., Krimmel, E.R., Lafrance, R., Martinec, J.L., Miller, A.N., Minnaert-, J., Nash, T., Oboyski, P., Paul, D.L., Pearson, K.D., Pentcheff, N.D., Roberts, M.A., Seltzer, C.E., Soltis, P.S., Stephens, R., Sweeney, P.W., Konrat, M.V.O.N., Wall, A., Wetzer, R., Zimmerman, C., & Mast, A.R. 2018. Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio): The Biocollections Community ’ s Citizen- Science Space on the Calendar. BioScience 68: 112–124.

Nelson, G., Sweeney, P.W., & Gilbert, E. 2018. Use of globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) to link herbarium specimen records to physical specimens: Applications in Plant Sciences 6: e1027.

Sweeney, P.W., Starly, B., Morris, P.J., Xu, Y., Jones, A., Radhakrishnan, S., Grassa, C.J., & Davis, C.C. 2018. Large-scale digitization of herbarium specimens: Development and usage of an automated, high-throughput conveyor system. Taxon 67: 165–178.

Yost, J.M., Sweeney, P.W., Gilbert, E., Nelson, G., Guralnick, R., Gallinat, A.S., Ellwood, E.R., Rossington, N., Willis, C.G., Blum, S.D., Walls, R.L., Haston, E.M., Denslow, M.W., Zohner, C.M., Morris, A.B., Stucky, B.J., Carter, J.R., Baxter, D.G., Bolmgren, K., Denny, E.G., Dean, E., Pearson, K.D., Davis, C.C., Mishler, B.D., Soltis, P.S., & Mazer, S.J. 2018. Digitization protocol for scoring reproductive phenology from herbarium specimens of seed plants: Applications in Plant Sciences 6: e1022.

Sweeney, P.W. 2017. Early Botanical Collections of the Yale University Herbarium. Connecticut Botanical Society Newsletter 44: 8–11.

Nelson, G., Sweeney, P.W., Wallace, L.E., Rabeler, R.K., Allard, D., Brown, H., Carter, J.R., Denslow, M.W., Ellwood, E.R., Germain-Aubrey, C.C., Gilbert, E., Gillespie, E., Goertzen, L.R., Legler, B., Marchant, D.B., Marsico, T.D., Morris, A.B., Murrell, Z., Nazaire, M., Neefus, C., Oberreiter, S., Paul, D., Ruhfel, B.R., Sasek, T., Shaw, J., Soltis, P.S., Watson, K., Weeks, A., & Mast, A.R. 2015. Digitization Workflows for Flat Sheets and Packets of Plants, Algae, and Fungi. Applications in Plant Sciences 3: 1500065.

Spriggs, E.L., Clement, W.L., Sweeney, P.W., Madriñán, S., Edwards, E.J., & Donoghue, M.J. 2015. Temperate radiations and dying embers of a tropical past: the diversification of Viburnum. New Phytologist 207: 340–354.

Clement, W.L., Arakaki, M., Sweeney, P.W., Edwards, E.J., & Donoghue, M.J. 2014. A chloroplast tree for Viburnum (Adoxaceae) and its implications for phylogenetic classification and character evolution. American Journal of Botany 101: 1029–1049.

Dreyer, G. D., Jones, C., Capers, R., Sweeney, P., Barrett, N., Sharp, P., Ultee, C., Brown, L., Saulys, S., Corrigan, E., et al. 2014. Native and Naturalized Vascular plants of Connecticut Checklist. In Memoirs of the Connecticut Botanical Society (Issue 5, pp. I–vii, 1-232). Connecticut Botanical Society, New Haven, CT.

Struwe, L., Poster, L.S., Howe, N., Zambell, C.B., & Sweeney, P.W. 2014. The making of a student-driven online campus flora: an example from Rutgers University. Plant Science Bulletin 60: 156–169.

Sweeney, P. 2012. The What, Why, & How of Botanical Nomenclature. Newsletter of the Connecticut Botanical Society 39: 3–5.

Rogers, Z.S., Sweeney, P.W., & Gautier, L. 2011. Malagasy Garcinia (Clusiaceae) revisited: new combinations and lectotypifications for Ochrocarpos goudotianus and O. evonymoides and the lectotypification of Garcinia comorensis. Candollea 66: 2–4.

Sweeney, P.W. 2010. Floral anatomy in Garcinia nervosa and G. xanthochymus (Clusiaceae): A first step toward understanding the nature of nectaries in Garcinia. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 51: 157–168.

Sweeney, P.W., & Rogers, Z.S. 2008. Nomenclatural Notes on Garcinia (Clusiaceae) from Madagascar and The Comoros. Novon: A Journal for Botanical Nomenclature 18: 524–537.

Sweeney, P.W. 2008. Phylogeny and Floral Diversity in the Genus Garcinia (Clusiaceae) and Relatives. International Journal of Plant Sciences169: 1288–1303.

Slagle, M.W., Sweeney, P.W., Hiser, K.M., & Wells-Sweeney, H. 2008. Vegetation Survey of Prairie Reconstructions at Litzsinger Road Ecology Center. Proceedings of the North American Prairie Conference 20: 225–232.

Rogers, Z.S., & Sweeney, P.W. 2007. Two distinctive new species of Malagasy Garcinia (Clusiaceae). Systematic Botany 32: 772–779.

Sweeney, P.W., Bradford, J.C., & Lowry II, P.P. 2004. Phylogenetic position of the New Caledonian endemic genus Hooglandia (Cunoniaceae) as determined by maximum parsimony analysis of chloroplast DNA. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 91: 266–274.

Sweeney, P.W., & Price, R.A. 2001. A multivariate morphological analysis of the Cardamine concatenata alliance (Brassicaceae). Brittonia 53: 82–95.

Sweeney, P.W., & Price, R.A. 2000. Polyphyly of the genus Dentaria (Brassicaceae): Evidence from trnL intron and ndhF sequence data. Systematic Botany 25: 468–478.

DBI NSF 2001500 (subaward)
Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: Building a global consortium of bryophytes and lichens: keystones of cryptobiotic communities

DBI NSF 1802270
Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: The Pteridological Collections Consortium: An integrative approach to pteridophyte diversity over the last 420 million years

DBI NSF 1304941
Digitization PEN: Digitization of two Important Medium-sized Collections to Join the North American Bryophytes and Lichens TCN

DBI NSF 1209149
Collaborative Research: Digitization TCN: Mobilizing New England Vascular Plant Specimen Data to Track Environmental Changes

DEB NSF 1145606
ARTS: A cyber-enabled global monograph of Viburnum (Adoxaceae, Dipsacales)

American Society of Plant Taxonomists, Botanical Society of America, Connecticut Botanical Society, International Association for Plant Taxonomy, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, Society of Herbarium Curators

Executive Editor (2018 - present), Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History

Steering Committee Chair (2009 - present), Consortium of Northeastern Herbaria

President (2018 - 2020), Past-President (2020 - 2022) Society of Herbarium Curators