Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Ecological Diversification of Subfamily Grevilleoideae (Proteaceae)

澳洲坚果亚科植物亚科(Grevilleoideae，45属，约950种)属于澳洲坚果科，它对于我们理解古代超大陆冈瓦那的碎片化以及它现在孤立的片段(包括南美洲、非洲、马达加斯加、印度、澳大利亚、新喀里多尼亚、新西兰)的变化所驱动的进化事件具有重要意义。该家族的化石历史可以追溯到9000万年前，在冈瓦那发生大多数碎裂事件之前，该亚科在南半球的广泛分布(在所有主要的冈德瓦群岛碎片上)通常是通过这些碎片上的祖先漂流来解释的。在澳大利亚，这个亚科的种类尤其多样。它包含了该大陆10个最大的开花植物属中的3个；Grevillea是第三大属(仅次于桉树和相思)，而Banksia拥有该大陆最广泛的化石记录。该亚科也是澳大利亚开阔的、被大火席卷的植被的多样化植物区系的主要组成部分--这种植被类型在澳大利亚后冈瓦那时代的孤立后大幅扩大。然而，尽管有重要的意义，我们仍然没有一个很好的亚科的系统发育(家谱)。佛罗里达州立大学的奥斯汀·马斯特博士与澳大利亚的彼得·韦斯顿和格雷格·乔丹以及瑞典的大卫·坎特里尔共同进行的这项研究，将(1)根据约200个物种的核和叶绿体基因序列数据，构建格雷夫莱亚科的骨干系统发育；(2)为具有生物地理、生态和古植物学意义的8个焦点群构建精细的系统发育图；(3)改进属、亚族和部落的亚科分类和划分；(4)在已知化石的背景下，利用许多复制的分离(澳大拉西亚和南美洲之间至少有6个)来测试冈瓦纳亚科的分裂对亚科的影响；(5)测试广泛的干旱化对澳大利亚成员生态多样性的影响；(6)测试澳大利亚多样化的西南植物省和被澳大利亚中部沙漠隔开的东部沿海地区之间至少6个重复分离的年表。该项目将为很大一部分蛋白质科物种提供一个强有力的系统发育框架，从而有助于对冈德瓦南的起源和两栖(北半球和南半球)分离的研究。PI为这个家庭维护了一个在线关系数据库，其中存储了关于研究人员和种植者的信息、当前公认的科学名称、图像、新闻项目和链接。该项目将扩大数据库，使其包括一个绝版文本的文献表、一个分类同义词表、一个地理分布表、一个化石类群表和图形，以传达系统发生的结果和分类划界的变化。研究结果将用科学术语和非专业术语进行总结。该网站对研究人员、商业和业余爱好种植者、教育工作者和学生都很有用。该项目将培训一名研究生和两名本科生掌握现代系统技术，并加强与澳大利亚、巴布亚新几内亚、新喀里多尼亚、斐济和瓦努阿图科学家的科学合作。

Plant Subfamily Grevilleoideae (45 genera, ca. 950 species) of the family Proteaceae (Macadamia Nut Family) is important to our understanding of evolutionary events driven by the fragmentation of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana and subsequent changes on its now isolated fragments (including South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand). The family's fossil history extends to 90 million years ago, prior to most fragmentation events in Gondwana, and the subfamily's far-flung distribution in the Southern Hemisphere (on all major Gondwanan fragments) is generally explained by rafting of ancestors on those fragments. The subfamily is particularly diverse in Australia. It contains 3 of that continent's 10 largest flowering plant genera; Grevillea is third largest (behind Eucalyptus and Acacia), and Banksia has that continent's most extensive fossil record. The subfamily is also a major component of the diverse flora occupying Australia's open, fire-swept vegetation - a vegetation type that expanded substantially after Australia's post-Gondwana isolation. However, despite the significance, we are still without a well-resolved phylogeny (family tree) for the subfamily. The proposed research by Dr Austin Mast at Florida State University, with colleagues Peter Weston and Greg Jordan in Australia and David Cantrill in Sweden, will (1) construct a backbone phylogeny for subfamily Grevilleoideae, relying upon nuclear and chloroplast gene sequence data for 200 or so species; (2) construct fine-scale phylogenies for 8 focal groups of biogeographical, ecological, and paleobotanical significance; (3) improve subfamily classification and circumscriptions of genera, subtribes, and tribes; (4) test the effects of the break-up of Gondwana on the subfamily using the many replicate disjunctions (at least 6 between Australasia and South America) within the context of known fossils; (5) test the effects of widespread aridification on ecological diversification in the Australian members; and (6) test the chronology of at least 6 replicate disjunctions between Australia's diverse Southwest Botanic Province and eastern coastal areas, separated by Australia's central deserts. The project will provide a robust phylogenetic framework for a significant portion of the Proteaceae, and thereby contribute to studies of the origin of Gondwanan and of amphitropical (Northern and Southern hemisphere) disjunctions. The PI maintains an online relational database for the family that stores information about researchers and growers, currently recognized scientific names, images, news items, and links. This project will expand the database to include a literature table with out-of-print texts, a taxonomic synonyms table, a geographic distribution table, a fossil taxa table, and graphics to communicate phylogenetic results and changes in taxonomic delimitations. The results of the research will be summarized in both scientific and layperson's terms. The site is broadly useful to researchers, commercial and hobby growers, educators, and students. The project will train one graduate and two undergraduate students in modern systematic techniques and strengthen scientific collaborations with scientists in Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Vanuatu.