PEET: Systematics of the Daltoniaceae (Bryophyta)

该项目的目标是重建南半球生态学上突出的一组苔藓之间的系统发育关系，并澄清物种之间的边界，它们的地理范围和它们的区别特征。 Daltoniaceae是本研究的重点群体，广泛分布于南美洲和澳大拉西亚的热带和南温带森林。该物种是许多南半球生态系统的显著组成部分，在那里它们作为附生植物出现在开花植物和树蕨上，土壤上和腐烂的原木上。该科约有14属215种，但有关其生态和地理分布的基本信息仍然缺乏。目前的项目将提供一个多方面的评估Daltoniaceae的生物多样性模式，利用一系列的方法，包括形态变异的实验室分析，生态关系的实地研究，和DNA核苷酸序列数据，以解决人口结构和系统发育关系。这项研究将产生正式的分类治疗这些藓类（包括插图，描述和其他工具的识别），加上分子分析的系谱关系，是至关重要的了解在这个组的形态和生态多样性的起源。 将采用分子系统发育信息分析来推断多样化的速度和模式，以及这些模式与生态和地理因素的关系。 该项目将使用互补方法解决广泛的科学问题，这些方法都是为了更好地了解世界生物多样性及其起源。南半球有着丰富而相对鲜为人知的植物群，在Daltoniaceae中发现的许多分布模式也存在于其他植物和动物群中。 因此，应用分子工具来理解生物多样性的地理学将与许多其他群体相关。这项研究所产生的分类处理提供了生物多样性模式的基本描述，从而为更广泛的科学界成员今后的所有研究奠定了基础。作为PEET赠款，该项目是围绕培训年轻调查人员的中心目标建立的，以发展未来的科学事业，特别是生物多样性研究。 该项目对科学基础设施产生了有利的影响，包括本科生，研究生和博士后学员在工作的各个方面。 智力交叉激励和积极的合作研究道德的发展是该项目的重要培训组成部分。 在这项研究过程中收集的所有信息将在互联网上免费提供，并将广泛向公众开放。

The goals of this project are to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships among an ecologically prominent group of Southern Hemisphere mosses, and to clarify the boundaries among species, their geographic ranges, and their distinguishing features. The Daltoniaceae, which are the focal group for this research, are widespread in tropical and South-Temperate forests of both South America and Australasia. The species are conspicuous components of many Southern Hemisphere ecosystems, where they occur as epiphytes on flowering plants and tree ferns, on soil, and on rotting logs. There are about 14 genera and 215 species in the family, but basic information about their ecology and geographic ranges is still lacking. The current project will provide a multifaceted assessment of biodiversity patterns in the Daltoniaceae, utilizing a range of methodology including laboratory analyses of morphological variation, field studies of ecological relationships, and DNA nucleotide sequence data to resolve population structure and phylogenetic relationships. The research will yield formal taxonomic treatments for these mosses (including illustrations, descriptions, and other tools for identification), plus molecular analyses of genealogical relationships that are crucial to understanding the origin of morphological and ecological diversity in this group. Analyses of molecular phylogenetic information will be employed to infer rates and patterns of diversification and how those patterns relate to ecological and geographical factors. The project will address a broad range of scientific issues using complementary methods that are all directed toward a better understanding of the world's biodiversity and its origins. The Southern Hemisphere has a rich and relatively poorly known flora and many of the distributional patterns found in Daltoniaceae occur in other plant and animal groups. Thus, the application of molecular tools to understanding the geography of biodiversity will be relevant to many other groups. The taxonomic treatments produced by this research provide a basic description of biodiversity patterns and thus form the foundation for all future research by members of the broader scientific community. As a PEET grant, this project is built around a central goal of training young investigators to develop future careers in science, and in particular, in studies of biodiversity. This project impacts favorably on scientific infrastructure by including undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral trainees in all aspects of the work. Intellectual cross stimulation and the development of a positive, collaborative research ethic is an important training component of the project. All information collected during the course of this research will be made freely available on the internet, and will be broadly accessible to the public.