International Research Fellowship Program: Rapid Speciation in the New Zealand Alpine Flora: An Integrated Approach to Assessing the Impacts of Selective Forces

Meudt Heidi M, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

0401830 Meudt The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twenty-two-month research fellowship by Dr. Heidi M. Meudt to work with Dr. Peter Lockhart at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, and with Dr. Phil Garnock-Jones at Victoria University on Wellington, New Zealand. Building upon the PI's extensive knowledge of the systematics and biogeography of Ourisia (Plantaginaceae) from her dissertation work, the PI is using the New Zealand species of Ourisia as a study system to assess the relative impact of geological, genetic and ecological factors on the evolutionary history of the rapidly speciating alpine flora of New Zealand. The PI is specifically addressing the following three goals: (a) characterization of the pattern of radiation of Ourisia in the mountains of New Zealand within a temporal framework of tectonic and climatic change; (b) investigation of the ecological factors that may be driving radiation; and (c) investigation of other selective forces that are important for maintaining species barriers in the absence of specialized pollinators. An integrated approach is underway that combines data from field work, greenhouse crossing studies, genetic studies (AFLP and ISSR), geographic information systems (GIS), and statistical hypothesis testing. New Zealand's unique combination of geological history and ecological diversity make it the perfect place to investigate plant species radiations and their underlying causes, which is the focus of the active research programs of the hosts, Dr. Phil Garnock-Jones and Dr. Peter Lockhart. This project involves the training and valuable assistance of (volunteer) undergraduate assistants for conducting field studies and crossing studies, and gathering and analyzing molecular data. The training of an American woman (the PI) during this project is significant since few researchers working on questions of New Zealand speciation are Americans or women. The skills she learns will be applicable to address similar questions in other places such as the South American Andes, where the PI also has research and language experience.