Dissertation Research: Systematic Studies of North American Callitriche (Callitrichaceae)

水生开花植物是出了名的难以识别，因为它们的形态随着不同的水位和其他环境因素而变化很大。研究生Thomas Philrick在康涅狄格大学教授导师Gregory Anderson博士的指导下，正在研究生长条件对北美17种水生被子植物Callitriche形态的影响。他正在用叶绿体DNA变异的生化分析来补充这项形态学研究，以确定物种间遗传差异的可靠标记，并为该群体构建强大的分类学。他的研究结果将改进这些植物的分类，并更好地理解物种之间分化的进化史。

Aquatic flowering plants are notoriously difficult to identify because their morphology varies greatly with differing water levels and other factors of the environment. Graduate student Thomas Philbrick, under the supervision of faculty advisor Dr. Gregory Anderson at the Univesity of Connecticut, is studying the effects of growth conditions on the morphology of 17 North American species of the aquatic angiosperm genus Callitriche. He is supplementing this morphological study with biochemical analyses of variation in chloroplast DNA, in order to identify reliable markers of genetic divergence among species and construct a robust taxonomy for the group. The results of his study will lead to improved classification of these plants and better understanding of the evolutionary history of divergence among the species.