U.S.-Australia Cooperative Research: Major Patterns in the Phylogeny of Flowering Plants: Floral Development and Relationships Among "Basal" Non-Magnoliid Dicotyledons

该奖项将支持Field自然历史博物馆的Peter Crane博士和墨尔本大学的andrew Drinnan博士之间的合作研究。开花植物是植物中最大的一类，被子植物大约有50万种。除了它们的多样性外，被子植物对人类的经济也很重要。被子植物也是许多或大多数陆地生态系统的主要组成部分。可以理解的是，植物学家一直对发展模型和推断这一高度重要群体的起源和辐射很感兴趣。在过去的二十年里，诸如分子系统学之类的技术已经变得可行，可以对开花植物的起源问题和该群体的系统发育模型进行严格的科学研究。本研究的重点是对被子植物Buxaceae的花发育和形态进行详细的研究，以澄清同源性和解决属级关系。利用发育信息和其他数据，该项目将批判性地评估有关蟾科植物系统发育位置的不同假设。此外，还将评估将水杨科纳入或接近水杨科的被子植物系统发育的更广泛意义。由于Trochodendrales在被子植物系统发育中占据中心位置，因此研究结果将对解决开花植物主要类群之间的相互关系产生重要影响。该项目体现了澳大利亚和美国科学家之间的卓越合作，将他们对将要考虑的分类群的共同知识和将要采用的技术结合起来。他们在流动植物的关键发育、形态和系统发育问题上的互补专业知识，有可能显著推进开花植物起源和该群体系统发育模型的知识。这也是研究开花植物主要类群之间相互关系的重要基础工作，并有可能激发使用新的分子方法来解决这些问题的其他研究。

This award will support cooperative research between Dr. Peter Crane of the Field Museum of Natural History and Dr.Andrew Drinnan of the University of Melbourne. The flowering plants comprise the largest group of plants, Angiospermae with approximately 500,000 species. In addition to their sheer diversity, the angiosperms are of great economic importance to humans. Angiosperms are also major elements of many or most terrestrial ecosystems. Understandably, botanists have been interested in developing models and inferences concerning the origin and radiation of this highly significant group. Within the past two decades, techniques such as molecular systematics have become available to permit rigorous scientific inquiry into the problem of the origin of the flowering plants and phylogenetic models of the group. The focus of this research is a detailed study of floral development and morphology in the angiosperm family Buxaceae to clarify homologies and resolve generic level relationships. Utilizing developmental information and other data, the project will critically assess contrasting hypotheses on the phylogenetic position of the Buxaceae. In addition, the broader implications for angiosperm phylogeny of incorporating the Buxaceae within, or close to, the Trochodendrales will be assessed. Because the Trochodendrales occupy a central position in angiosperm phylogeny, the results will have important consequences for resolving interrelationships among major groups of flowering plants. The project represents excellent collaboration between the Australian and the U.S. scientist in combining their joint knowledge of the taxa to be considered and the techniques to be employed. Their complementary expertise on critical developmental, morphological and phylogenetic issues of flowing plants has the potential to signifi- cantly advance knowledge of the origin of flowering plants and phylogenetic models of the group. This is also important fundamental work on interrelationships among major groups of flowering plants, and has the potential to stimulate additional research using new molecular approaches to these problems.