Dissertation Research: Systematics and Evolution of ColumneaSection Pentadenia (Gesneriaceae)

研究生J. F. Smith提出了新热带植物属柱属部分Pentadenia的专题修订和进化研究。在他的主要教授K. J. Sytsma的指导下，史密斯先生将收集南美物种的代表，并描述它们的生殖形态、叶绿体DNA序列和核核体DNA限制模式。分子数据将用于建立现存物种之间的进化关系，并将根据这一进化框架解释生殖结构。这项提议的研究将增加我们对一个鲜为人知的热带植物属的了解，并将使用最先进的手段来解开它们的进化史。通过将分子方法与功能特征的形态学数据相结合，该项目将阐明适应的广泛问题。

Graduate student J. F. Smith proposes a monographic revision and evolutionary study of the neotropical plant genus Columnea section Pentadenia. Under the direction of his major professor K. J. Sytsma, Mr. Smith will collect representatives of the South American species and characterize their reproductive morphology, chloroplast DNA sequences, and nuclear ribosomal DNA restriction patterns. The molecular data will be used to establish the evolutionary relationships among living species, and the reproductive structures will be interpreted against this evolutionary framework. The proposed study will increase our understanding of a poorly known tropical plant genus, and will use the most advanced means for unravelling their evolutionary history. By combining molecular approaches to evolutionary history with morphological data on functional characters, the project will illuminate the broad question of adaptation.