My current research interest relates to revision of the systematics of watermolds belonging to the protistan order Saprolegniales. This research is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation Directorate of Environmental Biology Partnership for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) program. This five-year project will involve using gene sequence data from axenic cultures of watermolds collected from all over the world to reevaluate the utility of sexual morphological features as taxonomic criteria. This project will train numerous undergraduates and two PhD students in watermold systematics and will result in a complete revision of the species circumscriptions of the approximately 150(?) species of the 17(?) genera that comprise this order.

Padgett, D.E., and R.L. Seymour. 1974. Variability of zoospore
discharge in species of the genus Dictyuchus. Mycologia 66:615-627.

Padgett, D.E. 1976. An isolate of Saprolegnia australis from southeastern North Carolina. Mycologia 68:1258-1260.

Padgett, D.E. 1978. Observations on estuarine distribution of Saprolegniaceae. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc. 70:141-143.

Padgett, D.E., J.C. Puckett, and W.M. Strickland. 2000. Taxonomic implications of unusual zoospore discharge in an isolate of Saprolegnia unispora. Mycotaxon 76:171-174.

Johnson, T.W., Jr., R.L. Seymour, and D.E. Padgett. 2002. Biology and Systematics of the Saprolegniaceae. Published on the world-wide-web. Can be accessed at following internet addresses: www.uncw.edu/people/padgett (click on “link to watermold treatise”. Also available at http://www.ilumina-dlib.org (select “advanced search, then use key word “Padgett” and tic “book” then “submit”).