Support for Publication for "A Revision of Anthurium SectionPachyneurium (Araceae)"

托马斯·克罗特博士完成了一本分类专著，描述了天南星科最多样化的属--红掌属的厚神经组。天南星科从小植物到木本灌木都有不同，在物种水平上很难区分它们。厚神经组遍布墨西哥、中南美洲和加勒比海地区，但其多样性最大的地区是从哥斯达黎加到秘鲁。克罗特博士在国家科学基金会系统生物学项目的研究支持下，对这个群体进行了长达20年的研究。他现在建议在《密苏里州植物园年鉴》上发表对该群体的描述性治疗。这一系列出版物是世界上关于热带植物物种分类和分布的最有影响力的信息来源之一。拟议的专著出版将在系统植物学家、热带生态学家、生物地理学家和进化生物学家中找到广泛的受众。热带物种的数量远远超过它们的温带物种，而像克罗特博士这样的专著对于识别物种和对它们进行进一步研究是至关重要的。像这样的描述性分类学研究是揭开热带物种非凡多样性的因素的第一步。

Dr. Thomas Croat has completed a taxonomic monograph describing the section Pachyneurium of the genus Anthurium, the most diverse genus of the Araceae. Aroids vary from small plants to woody shrubs, and they can be very difficult to distinguish at the level of speceis. Section Pachyneurium extends throughout Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, but its greatest diversity is exhibited from Costa Rica to Peru. Dr. Croat has studied the group over a twenty year period with research support from the Systematic Biology Program of the National Science Foundation. He now proposes publication in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden of a descriptive treatment of the group. This publication series has been one of the world's most influential sources of information on the taxonomy and distribution of tropical plant species. The proposed monograph publication will find a wide audience among systematic botanists, tropical ecologists, biogeographers, and evolutionary biologists. Tropical species far outnumber their temperate counterparts, and monographs such as Dr. Croat's are critical for identifying species and pursuing any further research on them. Descriptive taxonomic research such as this is the first step toward unravelling the factors contributing to the extraordinary diversity of tropical species.