DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Phylogeny, reticulate evolution, and historical biogeography in the Hawaiian lobeliad genera Cyanea and Clermontia

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

Adaptive radiations, where a group of organisms has radiated to perform a number of ecological roles, offer an opportunity to investigate the mechanisms that allow species to diversify rapidly within a limited geographical area. Members of the lobelia plant family (Lobeliaceae) restricted to the Hawaiian Islands have undergone a remarkable divergence in habitat, growth form, leaf size and shape, floral morphology, and mechanism of seed dispersal, and are considered one of the best examples of an adaptive radiation in plants. Previous studies have shown that this group of 140 species was derived from a single colonization 13 million years ago, long before many of the Hawaiian islands of today had emerged from the Pacific. Hawaiian lobeliads now represent 12% of the native Hawaiian flora and are the most species-rich plant lineage found on any single group of oceanic islands on Earth. The two largest genera, Cyanea and Clermontia, comprising approximately 100 species form the largest sublineage within the group. Previous phylogenetic analyses of Cyanea-Clermontia were inconclusive due to a combination of limited sampling within the group and insufficient DNA sequence variation to reconstruct a well-supported estimate of relationships. Cyanea-Clermontia, by its very size, ecological and morphological diversity, and high proportion of species restricted to single islands (each of known age), offers unique opportunities for studying adaptive radiation, speciation, and historical biogeography. Understanding relationships within this lineage could provide new insights into the rise of plant and animal diversity on Hawaii, and identify traits associated with a tendency to become rare or extinct. This project will (1) broadly train a graduate student in plant systematics and historical biogeography analyses; (2) develop molecular phylogenetic analysis pipelines to aid in the study of other recent radiations; (3) produce a well-documented collection of DNA samples to permit future studies of this important group; and (4) create a website on the diversification of native Hawaiian lobeliads, to disseminate findings to a broad range of amateur botanists and lobeliad enthusiasts. Next-generation DNA sequencing data will be used to infer phylogenies of Cyanea-Clermontia from whole-chloroplast genomes and >400 nuclear genes for all living species sampled across their range. Analyses of these data will permit derivation of species trees and networks, analysis of hybridization, introgression, and other forms of reticulate evolution (important in Clermontia), reconstruct its geographic spread through time, and infer the pattern and tempo of evolution of key morphological and ecological character-states using a variety of tree- and network-based approaches.