RUI: Surveys of Podostemaceae (riverweeds) in Latin America

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0444589PhilbrickA four-year survey of species of the flowering plant family Podostemaceae (riverweeds) in Latin America will be conducted (the common name "riverweed" is unfortunate because these plants are native in Latin America, not weedy, and play important ecological roles in tropical aquatic systems). Riverweeds usually are highly modified, at times almost algal-like plants with reduced flowers and fruits, and occur only in rapidly moving waters and waterfall areas, areas that are among the most detrimentally impacted of tropical aquatic habitats (for example, from dam building, siltation and pollution from agriculture). It is clear that some riverweeds are being driven to extinction. The ability to assess the extent of the extinction threat, however, is severely hampered by the present poor taxonomic understanding of these plants. Distinctions between species (and even genera) are poorly understood. The proposed project is central to addressing this problem. Field surveys will provide the specimens necessary to build taxonomic understanding of the family in the Americas. Field surveys will occur in southern Mexico, all of Central America, Venezuela, and northwestern Guyana, in collaboration with Mexican colleague Dr. Alejandro Novelo and several other specialists. These countries represent the areas of greatest diversity of riverweeds in the Americas. Insight gained from field collections will allow two fundamental questions to be answered. First, which of the large number of reportedly endemic (occurring in only one location) species are truly distinctive, versus artifacts of prior poor taxonomic understanding? Second, which species are incorrectly recognized as endemic because of inadequate documentation of overall geographic distribution? Clarification of conservation status in riverweeds will only be possible when these questions can be answered. This project represents the first concerted attempt to deal with the taxonomic disarray represented in riverweeds throughout Central America and northern South America by addressing taxonomic concepts at both the species and genus levels. The project will also contribute broadly to the study of riverweeds by providing Internet access to specimen databases that will include geo-referenced and taxonomic determinations. The proposed collecting and research will strengthen and diversify undergraduate research and training at Western Connecticut State University. Undergraduates will serve as research assistants for the project. As many as 20 undergraduate students over the duration of the project will be challenged as they become involved in a wide range of field and laboratory components of the project, with exposure to ideas and methods in the fields of conservation biology and systematic biology. The strong international component of the RUI program will allow undergraduates to gain invaluable experience conducting research in Latin America, working closely with Latin American colleagues. In furtherance of these goals, the Americas Program of the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering is providing co-funding for this project. Dr. Philbrick, the Principal Investigator, will integrate the results of this project directly into three undergraduate courses, and thereby strengthen undergraduate education. Students should gain understanding of the importance of basic research for addressing problems of natural resource conservation, an issue of fundamental importance in modern societies.