DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Systematics of the Tillandsia fasciculata Complex (Bromeliaceae)

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

The evolution and distribution of species across the islands of the Caribbean are based overwhelmingly on zoological, rather than botanical, studies. This project integrates a suite of novel approaches to study the pattern and process of evolution in the Tillandsia fasciculata species complex, an epiphytic flowering plant classified in the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae). Goals of the study are to: 1) evaluate the ancestry of the T. fasciculata complex and determine evolutionary relationships among its species, subspecies, and varieties; 2) examine genetic variation within this species complex throughout the Caribbean; and 3) predict the possible occurrence of T. fasciculata in geographic space based on known distribution data. This complex is an ideal model system to study evolution and biogeography since it occurs in and around the entire Caribbean Basin. The project will provide educational training to the doctoral student co-PI, who is in a unique position to broadly disseminate his findings via local plant society meetings and/or amateur publications, and through botanical gardens that focus on the importance of maintaining ex-situ plant material for scientific research and conservation. Results will be the first to evaluate the status of threatened bromeliads throughout the West Indies, one of the world?s most fragile biodiversity hotspots.