US-South Africa International Research Experience for Students - Biodiversity Hotspots: Ecological and Evolutionary Patterns and Process in the Cape Floristic Region: IRES

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This International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) award supports research experience in biodiversity science in the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa for 15 US students over three years. Four University of Connecticut scientists, Dr. John Silander (PI) and Dr. Kent Holsinger, Dr. Cynthia Jones and Dr. Carl Schlichting (co-PIs) will lead projects in collaboration with South African scientists Dr. Guy Midgley and Dr. Tony Rebelo (South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch) and Dr. Jeremy Midgley (University of Cape Town). Current understanding of the ecological and evolutionary processes that affect the generation, maintenance and loss of biological diversity remains universally poor. The issues confronted by biodiversity science are global in scale and will require broad-based, international collaboration in research and education. The Cape Floristic Region of South Africa is an ideal natural laboratory in a prime global hotspot of biodiversity, containing more plant species per unit area than most other regions of the world. Student team and individual research projects will focus on three groups of plants (proteas, pelargoniums and geophytes), each group being remarkably diverse, broadly distributed across habitat types in South Africa, and comprised of species of conservation significance. Scientific training will focus on ecology, evolutionary biology, statistics and modeling. The overall objectives of this project are to foster long-term scientific research partnership between the US and South Africa on issues related to biological diversity and to prepare U.S. students for international scientific collaborations by providing strong international research experiences and rich foreign cultural experiences. This project leverages the University of Connecticut's long relationship with and ongoing programs at the University of Cape Town, as well as the PI and co-PIs' involvement in efforts to include students from under-represented groups in the biodiversity science.This award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering and the Division of Environmental Biology.