These research interests are being pursued by an active field program, particularly in the neotropics, to survey population sizes and demographics, to understand phenology, to study the recently discovered insect pollination biology of cycads and Gnetum. As part of this field program, live plants are also collected for laboratory research and for breeding purposes in order to try to save the cycads from extinction. Dennis has recently expanded the scope of this program to include the paleotropic species of the cycads to produce a monograph of all Cycadales in collaboration with Ken Hill of the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. In addition, he has a collaborative research program with Gloria Coruzzi of New York University on the biology, synthesis, and genetic control of the nonprotein amino acid, BMAA, which is implicated in Guam Dementia. Dennis is part of the Plant Genomics Consortium and am conducting research, with the other consortium members, on the origin, development, and modification of the seed with a focus on the integuments and arils as well as heterospory. His other major research interest is the systematics of the monocots, particularly, the Commelinidae. The topics under investigation include developmental floral morphology, embryology, and inflorescence structure because this basic information is incomplete or unknown for many of these families. These data are being combined with gene sequence data to generate phylogenetic hypothesis on the origin and classification of the monocots.