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

西番莲为西番莲科西番莲属植物，约有500种，主要分布于热带美洲、东南亚和澳大利亚。百香花是受欢迎的园林植物，因为它们美丽、复杂的花朵，并因其果实而被商业种植。此外，正在对它们的医疗应用进行调查。西番莲组西番莲目前由13种草本到木本藤本植物组成，其特点是小花无花瓣，花冠花丝成两个系列，种皮网状。该部分分布在美国南部、墨西哥、中美洲、南美洲和加勒比海地区。这些花主要由蜜蜂和黄蜂授粉，有趣的是，在牙买加和墨西哥南部的三个物种中，蜂鸟授粉。Cieca组中的一个物种，西番莲，被怀疑已经灭绝，但这一点尚未得到明确的证明。另有三只被列为濒危或受威胁物种。为了考察Cieca组内的进化关系，我们将对该组进行详细的修订，重点是结合DNA序列和形态特征进行分析。将密切关注授粉生物学，以检验导致蜜蜂和黄蜂授粉转变为蜂鸟授粉的选择性力量。在可能的情况下，将观察和鉴定Cieca组内该物种的蝴蝶食草动物，以补充文献报告，并调查西番莲亚科蝴蝶与西番莲之间的密切关系。修订中将包括详细的检索表、描述、分布图和插图，以及支序、生物地理和生态分析。这项拟议的研究将有助于更好地了解西番莲科种水平上的进化。这项调查将首次将现代分支学方法纳入西番莲属内任何一个类群的形态研究中。拟议的研究还将使用组合的形态和分子数据矩阵来制定本节中的系统发育关系假说，并将有助于更好地理解这种方法在植物系统学中的作用。此外，这项研究将允许根据西番莲内一组物种的系统发育假说来评估西番莲亚科和西番莲的共同进化关系。最后，这项研究将是少数几项试图确定导致在一组密切相关的热带物种中从膜翅目到鸟类授粉的进化力量之一。因此，拟议研究的结果将是更广泛地了解新热带地区一组快速进化的植物物种之间的进化趋势和关系。

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.