RUI: Surveys of Podostemaceae (riverweeds) in Latin America

菲力克将对拉丁美洲开花植物科(河草)的物种进行为期四年的调查(通常被称为河草是很遗憾的，因为这些植物原产于拉丁美洲，不是杂草，在热带水生系统中发挥着重要的生态作用)。河草通常是高度改良的，有时几乎是藻类植物，花朵和果实减少，只出现在快速流动的水域和瀑布地区，这些地区是受热带水生生境(例如，大坝建设、淤积和农业污染)影响最严重的地区。很明显，一些河草正在被赶尽杀绝。然而，由于目前对这些植物的分类了解很差，评估灭绝威胁程度的能力受到了严重阻碍。人们对物种(甚至属)之间的区别知之甚少。拟议的项目是解决这一问题的核心。实地调查将提供必要的标本，以建立对美洲该科的分类了解。将与墨西哥同事Alejandro Novelo博士和其他几位专家合作，在墨西哥南部、整个中美洲、委内瑞拉和圭亚那西北部进行实地调查。这些国家代表着美洲河草多样性最大的地区。从实地收集中获得的洞察力将有助于回答两个基本问题。首先，相对于之前糟糕的分类学理解，在大量据报道为特有的(只出现在一个地点)物种中，哪些是真正独特的？第二，由于对总体地理分布的记录不充分，哪些物种被错误地确认为特有物种？只有当这些问题得到解答时，才有可能澄清河草的保护状况。该项目是通过在物种和属两级处理分类学概念来处理整个中美洲和南美洲北部河草所表现出的分类混乱的第一次协调努力。该项目还将提供对标本数据库的因特网访问，从而广泛促进河草的研究，标本数据库将包括地理参照和分类确定。拟议的收集和研究将加强和多样化西康涅狄格州立大学的本科生研究和培训。本科生将担任该项目的研究助理。在整个项目期间，多达20名本科生将面临挑战，因为他们将参与项目的广泛领域和实验室组成部分，接触到保护生物学和系统生物学领域的想法和方法。RUI项目强大的国际成分将使本科生获得在拉丁美洲开展研究的宝贵经验，并与拉美同事密切合作。为了实现这些目标，美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室的美洲计划正在为该项目提供共同资助。首席研究员菲尔布里克博士将把这一项目的成果直接整合到三门本科课程中，从而加强本科教育。学生应该了解基础研究对解决自然资源保护问题的重要性，这是现代社会中一个至关重要的问题。

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.