DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Systematics and Evolution of Neotropical Bell-Flowers (Lobelioideae)

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The Andean mountain chains of South American are home to one-sixth of the world?s plant species, more than any other biodiversity hotspot. The 600 species of Neotropical bell-flower in the genera Centropogon, Burmeistera, and Siphocampylus represent a small fraction of this overwhelming diversity. The first goal of this project is to use DNA sequence data from both the chloroplast and nuclear genomes to reconstruct the evolutionary history of this plant group. This phylogeny will then be used to understand the evolution of Neotropical bell-flowers with respect to their ecological associates. First, patterns of morphological evolution involved in shifts between hummingbird and long-tongue bat pollination syndromes will be documented. Second, a phylogeny generated for flower mites collected from bell-flowers will be compared to the plant phylogeny to test for signals of co-diversification between host and parasite. This project will facilitate international collaboration via the participation of Latin American botanists and institutions.This project will also aid in the growth of physical museum collections, both in the US and abroad. A website that will make high-resolution digital images of the plants and the few currently published keys of groups within the clade readily available will be developed. Finally, the results of this project will be presented in publications and public and scientific talks in both English and Spanish. The inclusion of attractive plants and pollination by charismatic vertebrates, hummingbirds and bats, makes this research particularly attractive as model to teach K-12 students about evolution.