Early in his career, Russ Monson produced a series of influential eco-physiological papers that helped lay the foundation for the study of C₄ plant evolution. Among the most important was a 1984 paper with Maurice Ku and Gerry Edwards that outlined the pathway for the evolutionary bridge from C₃ to C₄ photosynthesis. This model proposed C₄ photosynthesis arose out of a shuttle that imported photorespiratory metabolites into bundle sheath (BS) cells, where glycine decarboxylase cleaved off CO₂, allowing it to accumulate and be efficiently refixed by BS Rubisco. By the mid-1990’s, Monson’s research focus had shifted away from C₄ plants, save for one 2003 paper on C₃ versus C₄ stomatal control with Travis Huxman, and a series of critical reviews on C₄ evolution. These reviews heavily influenced the modern synthesis of C₄ evolutionary studies, which incorporates phylogenomic understanding with physiological, molecular, and structural characterizations of trait shifts in multiple evolutionary lineages. Subsequent research supported the Monson et al. model from 1984, by showing a glycine shuttle occurs in nearly all C₃–C₄ intermediate species identified. Monson also examined the physiological controls over the ecological distribution of C₃, C₃–C₄ intermediate, and C₄ photosynthesis, building our understanding of the fitness value of the intermediate and C₄ pathway in relevant microenvironments. By establishing the foundation for discoveries that followed, Russ Monson can rightly be considered a leading pioneer contributing to the evolutionary biology of C₄ photosynthesis.

在他职业生涯的早期，Russ Monson 发表了一系列有影响力的生态生理学论文，为 C ₄植物进化的研究奠定了基础。其中最重要的是 1984 年与 Maurice Ku 和 Gerry Edwards 共同发表的一篇论文，其中概述了从 C ₃到 C ₄光合作用的进化桥路径。该模型提出了 C ₄光合作用产生于将光呼吸代谢物导入束鞘 (BS) 细胞的穿梭机，其中甘氨酸脱羧酶裂解 CO ₂，使其积累并被 BS Rubisco 有效地重新固定。到 1990 年代中期，Monson 的研究重点已从 C ₄植物转移，除了 2003 年关于 C _{3 的}一篇论文与Travis Huxman 的C ₄气孔控制对比，以及对 C ₄进化的一系列批判性评论。这些评论对 C ₄进化研究的现代综合产生了重大影响，该研究将系统发育学的理解与多个进化谱系中性状转变的生理、分子和结构特征相结合。随后的研究支持 Monson 等人。1984 年的模型，通过显示甘氨酸穿梭发生在几乎所有已鉴定的C ₃ -C ₄中间物种中。Monson 还研究了对 C ₃、C ₃ –C ₄中间体和 C ₄生态分布的生理控制光合作用，建立我们对相关微环境中中间体和 C ₄途径的适应值的理解。通过为随后的发现奠定基础，Russ Monson 可以正确地被视为对 C ₄光合作用进化生物学做出贡献的领先先驱。