Research Focus:
My research focuses on questions looking at life-history strategies, phenology and germination niche. I am particularly interested in integrating process-based models to quantify germination behavior and dormancy patterns. As a PhD student at The Ohio State University, I am working with Dr. Kristin Mercer understanding the variation and evolution of the capacity of Maize to fix nitrogen through symbiosis with bacteria. For my PhD, I will also explore the evolution of seed dormancy in diverse array of wild, landrace and improved maize accessions. In particular, I will relate environmental cues to seasonal timing, dormancy patterns and fitness of Maize across diverse array of wild, landrace and improved accessions.
Publications
Maleki K., Soltani E. Seasonal variation in dormancy and germination of buried seeds of Brassica napus.(In Preparation).
Lamichhane JR., Maleki K., Soltani E., Colbach N. Inter- and intra-specific genetic variability of seedling heterotrophic growth of a range of plant species. (Ready to be submitted).
Maleki K., Maleki K., Baskin C, Baskin J, J Soltani E. Regeneration of Taxus baccata from seed is unreliable in Caspian Hyrcanian forests. Short report. (Ready to be submitted).
Maleki K., Maleki K., J Soltani E. Oveisi M,. Gonzalez-Andujar., j. A model for changes in germination synchrony and its implements to study weed population dynamics: a case study of Brassicaceae (Ready to be submitted).
Maleki K., Soltani E, Pritchard, H, Seal, CH, Lamichhane JR. The seed germination spectrum of 528 plant species: a global meta-regression in relation to temperature and water potential. Global Change Biology (Submitted). Doi:10.1101/2022.08.24.504107.
Maleki K., Baskin C, Baskin J, Kiani M., Alahdadi I., Soltani E. 2022. Seed germination thermal niche differs among nine populations of an annual plant: a modelling approach .Ecology and Evolution. Doi: 10.1002/ece3.9240.
Soltani E., Maleki K. and Heshmati S. 2022. Application of a process-based model to quantifying dormancy loss in seeds of Parrotia persica C.A. Meyer. South African Journal of Botany (Elsevier).144, 97-104. doi: 10.1016/j.sajb.2021.08.003.
Maleki K., Soltani E and Arab Hosseini A, Aghili Lakeh, M. 2021. A quantitative analysis of primary dormancy and dormancy changes during burial in seeds of Brassica napus. Nordic Journal of Botany (Nordic Society Oikos). 39(8). doi: 10.1111/njb.03281.
Maleki K., Soltani E., Heshmati S. 2021. Modeling cardinal temperatures and germination behavior of seeds of Parrotia persica C.A. Meyer as affected by temperature and dormancy-breaking treatments. Journal of Forest and Wood Products. 73(4), 427-437. doi: 10.22059/jfwp.2021.300706.1097.
Maleki K., Soltani E., Alahdadi I. and Ghorbani Javid M. 2020. Evaluation of primary conditional dormancy in seeds of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) produced in Golestan and Mazandaran provinces. Iranian Journal of Seed Research. 6(2), 31-43.doi: 20.1001.1.23831251.1398.6.2.9.1.
Maleki K., Salehi N., Soltani E. and Oveisi M. 2021. Effect of secondary dormancy induction on seedling emergence of canola genotypes. Iranian Journal of Seed Science and Technology. 10(1), 89-102. doi: 10.22092/IJSST.2020.128045.1299.
Heshmati, S., Amini Dehaghi M., Farooq M., Wojtyla Ł., Maleki K. and Heshmati S. 2021. Role of Melatonin-seed priming on Antioxidant Enzymes and Biochemical Responses of Carthamus tinctorius L. under drought stress condition. Plant Stress. 2, 100023. doi: 10.1016/j.stress.2021.100023.
Heshmati S., Akbari GH. A., Soltani E., Amini Dehaghi M., K. Fathi Amirkhiz. And Maleki K. 2021. Study the photosynthetic pigments and phenolic compounds of safflower in response to foliar application of melatonin under water deficit condition. Journal of Plant Process and Function. 10(41), 37-52. doi:20.1001.1.23222727.1400.10.41.14.4.
Heshmati S., Akbari GH. A., Soltani E., Amini Dehaghi M., K. Fathi Amirkhiz. And Maleki K. 2021. Study the antioxidant enzymes’ activity and biochemical responses of Safflower as affected by foliar application of melatonin under drought condition. Journal of Crops Improvement. 23(4), 683-706. doi: 10.22059/JCI.2021.315815.2490.