Testing Systematic and Evolutionary Hypotheses in a Primitive Neotropical Group of Violets (Viola sect. Leptidium)

在原始新热带紫罗兰群（堇菜组 Leptidium）中测试系统和进化假设

• 批准号: 9973958
• 负责人: Harvey Ballard
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Ohio University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-08-01 至 2003-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9973958&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Testing; Systematic; Evolutionary; Hypotheses; Primitive

The "true" violets, belonging to the genus Viola, comprise a large and verydiverse group of plants that is found worldwide but is especially rich inthe mountain regions of the Latin American tropics. Like many othertropical plant groups, Latin American representatives have received littleserious scientific attention. Studies are desperately needed to understandspecies diversity there, clarify distinctions of species and figure outrelationships among them, and eventually to illuminate evolutionaryprocesses of diversification. Recent molecular studies of Latin Americanand other violet groups worldwide by the Principal Investigator demonstratethat Latin American violets are the oldest and most primitive of all.Thus, investigations on these violets will reveal important clues regardingthe origins of violets around the world, their evolution, global migrationand remarkable success. One of the two largest violet groups in LatinAmerica, section Leptidium, is the focus of the funded research.Field expeditions to Colombia and Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia, andsoutheastern Brazil, will be made to study populations of all species ofsect. Leptidium in the field and to bring back flowering and fruitingmaterials for intensive laboratory studies. Details of flowers, leaves,capsules and seeds will be compared among field-sampled populations, andagainst thousands of museum collections on loan from other botanicalinstitutions, to determine recognizable species. A compositerepresentative from each of several populations of each species will bebrought back from the field expeditions for molecular investigations. Twotypes of molecular data, DNA sequences from the nuclear InternalTranscribed Spacer region, and highly variable Inter-Simple Sequence Repeatmarkers, will be generated from the population samples to interpretrelationships between populations and species in section Leptidium.Chromosome numbers taken from flowers of species in the group, and physicalcharacteristics of species, will be compared with other groups of violetsaround the world, in order to interpret evolutionary patterns in the "true"violets as a whole. A traditional taxonomic treatment will be completedfor species in section Leptidium, to serve botanists and naturalists whoencounter these violets in Latin America.

真正的紫罗兰属于堇菜属，是一个种类繁多的植物类群，分布于世界各地，但在拉丁美洲热带山区尤为丰富。像许多其他热带植物群一样，拉丁美洲的代表植物很少受到认真的科学关注。研究是迫切需要了解那里的物种多样性，澄清物种的区别，找出它们之间的关系，并最终阐明多样化的进化过程。首席研究员最近对拉丁美洲和世界其他紫罗兰族的分子研究表明，拉丁美洲的紫罗兰是所有紫罗兰中最古老和最原始的。因此，对这些紫罗兰的研究将揭示紫罗兰在世界各地的起源，进化，全球迁移和显着成功的重要线索。拉丁美洲两个最大的紫罗兰类群之一的纤蕨组是该基金会资助的研究重点。将对哥伦比亚和委内瑞拉、秘鲁和玻利维亚以及巴西东南部进行实地考察，以研究纤蕨组所有物种的种群。在野外采集并带回开花和结果的材料进行深入的实验室研究。花、叶、蒴果和种子的细节将在实地取样的种群中进行比较，并与从其他植物学机构借来的数千件博物馆收藏品进行比较，以确定可识别的物种。从每个物种的几个种群中的每一个种群中的一个组合代表将从实地考察中带回进行分子研究。两种类型的分子数据，来自核内转录间隔区的DNA序列，和高度可变的简单重复序列标记，将从种群样本中产生，以解释种群和物种之间的关系。从该组物种的花中提取的染色体数目，以及物种的物理特征，将与世界各地的其他紫罗兰种群进行比较，以解释“真正的“紫罗兰的进化模式。一个传统的分类学处理将完成部分Leptidium的物种，为植物学家和博物学家谁遇到这些紫罗兰在拉丁美洲。