Collaborative: Dimensions: Parallel Evolutionary Radiations in Protea and Pelargonium in the Greater Cape Floristic Region

目前预测群落结构和功能变化的方法未能考虑影响其生态功能的物种属性、这些功能特征背后的遗传变异以及它们所属群落的动态之间的关系。该项目将重点关注Protea和Pelargonium这两个南非植物属，它们经历了巨大的多样化，目前跨越两个生物多样性热点，即大开普植物区（GFCR）的fynbos和多肉karoo生物群落。该项目将发展对遗传和进化背景下功能性状变异的理解，从而预测它们发生的群落特征以及这些群落对气候变化的适应能力。该项目将研究功能性状、光合作用、水分利用效率和叶片寿命之间的详细关系，包括性状变异的遗传基础和性状多样化率。这些信息将用于研究分类和性状多样性对生态系统恢复能力的影响，以响应火灾周期间隔。该项目将为博士后学者、研究生、本科生和高中生提供国际研究机会，包括积极从美国和南非服务不足的人群中招募的学生。它将积极加强保护基础设施，在项目的各个方面与南非国家生物多样性研究所（SANBI）密切合作，促进生物多样性科学、政策和保护行动。

Current approaches to predicting changes in community structure and function fail to consider relationships between species' attributes that affect their ecological function, genetic variation underlying those functional traits, and the dynamics of the communities of which they are part. This project will focus on Protea and Pelargonium, two South African plant genera that have undergone dramatic diversification and currently span two biodiversity hot spots, the fynbos and succulent karoo biomes in the Greater Cape Floristic Region (GFCR). This project will develop an understanding of functional trait variation in both genetic and evolutionary contexts, allowing predictions of the characteristics of communities in which they occur and the resilience of those communities to climate change. The project will examine detailed relationships between functional traits, photosynthesis, water use efficiency and leaf life span, including the genetic basis of trait variation and rates of trait diversification. This information will be used to examine effects of taxonomic and trait diversity on ecosystem resilience in response to fire cycle interval.The project will expose postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, undergraduates and high school students to international research, including students actively recruited from underserved populations both in the US and South Africa. It will actively enhance conservation infrastructure by working closely in all aspects of the project with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) to promote biodiversity science, policy and conservation action.