Dissertation Research: Phylogenetic Relationships within Passiflora L. Section Cieca Mast. (Passifloraceae)

西番莲（西番莲科）是一个由大约500种植物组成的大属，主要分布在热带美洲、东南亚和澳大利亚。西番莲是受欢迎的花园植物，因为它们美丽，复杂的花朵，并因其果实而被商业化种植。此外，正在研究它们的药用价值。西番莲部Cieca目前包括13种草本到木本藤本植物，其特点是没有花瓣的小花，两个系列的花冠细丝和网状的种皮。该部分分布在美国南部、墨西哥、中美洲、南美洲和加勒比地区。这些花主要由蜜蜂和黄蜂授粉，在牙买加和墨西哥南部的三个物种中，有一个有趣的转变，即蜂鸟授粉。Cieca区有一个物种，Passiflora clypeophylla，被怀疑已经灭绝，但这还没有得到明确的证明。另外三个被列为濒危或受威胁物种。为了研究Cieca部分的进化关系，我们将对该群体进行详细的修订，重点是DNA序列和形态特征的综合分析。将密切关注传粉生物学，以检查导致蜜蜂和黄蜂传粉到蜂鸟传粉的变化的选择力。在可能的情况下，将观察和鉴定Cieca区物种的蝴蝶食草动物，以补充文献报道，并调查西番莲蝴蝶（Heliconiinae）和西番莲之间的密切关系。一个详细的关键，描述，分布图和插图将包括在修订，以及进化，生物地理和生态分析。该研究将有助于在物种水平上更好地理解西番莲科植物的进化。这项调查将是第一次将现代分支学方法纳入西番莲属内任何群体的形态学研究。该研究还将结合形态学和分子数据矩阵来发展系统发育关系的假设，并将有助于更好地理解这种方法在植物系统学中的应用。此外，本研究将允许基于一组物种的系统发育假说，对西番莲内的Heliconiinae-Passiflora的共同进化关系进行评估。最后，这项研究将是为数不多的试图确定一组密切相关的热带物种从膜翅目昆虫到鸟类授粉的进化力量的研究之一。因此，提出的研究结果将是对新热带地区一组快速进化的植物物种的进化趋势和关系有更广泛的了解。

Passiflora (plant family Passifloraceae) is a large genus consisting of approximately 500 species primarily occurring in tropical America, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Passion flowers are popular garden plants because of their beautiful, intricate flowers and are grown commercially for their fruit. Additionally, they are being investigated for their medicinal applications. Passiflora section Cieca currently comprises 13 species of herbaceous to woody vines that are characterized by small flowers without petals, filaments of the corona in two series and reticulate seed coats. The section is distributed in the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The flowers are primarily pollinated by bees and wasps, with an interesting shift to hummingbird pollination in three species occurring in Jamaica and southern Mexico. One species within section Cieca, Passiflora clypeophylla, is suspected to be extinct but this has not been definitively proven. Three others are listed as endangered or threatened. In order to examine the evolutionary relationships within section Cieca, we will conduct a detailed revision of the group focusing on the combined analysis of DNA sequences and morphological characters. Close attention will be paid to pollination biology in order to examine the selective forces that have led to a change from bee and wasp to hummingbird pollination. Where possible the butterfly herbivores of the species within section Cieca will be observed and identified in order to supplement literature reports and to investigate the close relationship between passion-vine butterflies (Heliconiinae) and Passiflora. A detailed key, descriptions, distribution maps, and illustrations will be included in the revision, along with cladistic, biogeographical and ecological analyses. The proposed study will significantly contribute to a better understanding of evolution at the species level in the Passifloraceae. This investigation will be the first to incorporate modern cladistic methods in a morphological study of any group within the genus Passiflora. The proposed research will also use combined morphological and molecular data matrices to develop hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships in the section and will contribute to a better understanding of the utility of such an approach in plant systematics. In addition, this research will permit the evaluation of the Heliconiinae-Passiflora coevolutionary relationship based upon a well-supported phylogenetic hypothesis for a group of species within Passiflora. Lastly, this study will be one of the few studies to attempt to determine the evolutionary forces that have led from hymenopteran to bird pollination in a group of closely related, tropical species. Thus, the result of the proposed study will be a more extensive understanding of evolutionary trends and relationships within a group of rapidly evolving plant species of the neotropics.