Taxonomic Monographic Study of Podostemum (Podostemaceae)

9629767菲尔布里克在一些已知的最贫穷的热带植物群中，新大陆和东半球的“河草”，大约19个属的草本科。这些开花植物中的许多生长在热带地区湍急的溪流和急流中的岩石上，并可能在当地大量生长。它们栖息着无脊椎动物、幼鱼、两栖动物、藻类和水生苔藓，在热带河流生态系统功能中可能是重要的。由于其定型的带状叶形态和不频繁的开花和结果，它们提供的特征很少用于构建可靠的分类。因此，物种鉴定方面的问题阻碍了生态学研究；生物地理和迁徙路径的分析因缺乏系统发育知识而受到阻碍。西康涅狄格州立大学的C·托马斯·菲尔布里克博士和他的同事康涅狄格大学的唐纳德·莱斯博士将在墨西哥和南美洲收集和研究河草，并在印度开展更多关于旧大陆分类群的工作。其目的是为营养和生殖特征的关键分类学研究收集新的材料，并通过DNA测序获得新的分子信息。该项目的另一个组成部分是一系列常见的水族馆生长实验，以考虑环境和遗传对形态的影响。热带生物多样性的清查和记录仍然是分类学家和进化学家的优先事项。Podostemaceae是被子植物家族特有的河草，是Philrick博士和Les博士与墨西哥、南美和印度的外国同事合作进行的现代专题和系统发育研究的重点。对这些植物进行改进的分类，加上可靠的物种鉴定手段和对系统发育关系的可靠估计，将促进对它们的生态作用和进化史的理解。

9629767 Philbrick Among some of the poorest known groups of tropical plants are the "riverweeds" of the New and Old World, some 19 or so genera of the family Podostemaceae. Many of these flowering plants grow attached to rocks in swift-flowing streams and rapids in tropical regions, and can be locally abundant. They harbor invertebrates, larval fish, amphibians, algae, and aquatic mosses, and are likely important in tropical river ecosystem function. With their stereotyped, ribbon-leaf morphology and infrequent flowering and fruiting, they provide few characters upon which to construct a reliable classification. Problems with species identification thus hinder ecological research; analysis of biogeography and migration pathways is hampered by lack of knowledge of phylogeny. Dr. C. Thomas Philbrick of Western Connecticut State University with colleague Dr. Donald Les of the University of Connecticut will be collecting and studying riverweeds in Mexico and South America, with additional work in India on Old World taxa. The goal is to collect new material for critical taxonomic study of vegetative and reproductive features, and to supplement these with new molecular information from DNA sequencing. Another component of the project is a series of common-aquarium growth experiments, to factor environmental and genetic effects on morphology. The inventory and documentation of tropical biodiversity remain priorities among taxonomists and evolutionists. The peculiar riverweeds of the angiosperm family Podostemaceae are the focus of modern monographic and phylogenetic research by Dr. Philbrick and Dr. Les, in collaboration with foreign colleagues in Mexico, South America, and India. An improved classification of these plants, with reliable means of species identification and a robust estimate of phylogenetic relationships, will advance understanding of their ecological roles and evolutionary histories.