DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Systematics of the Tillandsia fasciculata Complex (Bromeliaceae)

加勒比岛屿上物种的进化和分布主要是基于动物学研究，而不是植物学研究。本项目整合了一套新的方法来研究菠萝科（凤梨科）附生开花植物Tillandsia fasciculata物种复合体的进化模式和过程。本研究的目的是：1)评估束状地衣复合体的祖先，确定其种、亚种和变种之间的进化关系；2)检查整个加勒比地区这一物种复合体的遗传变异；3)根据已知的分布数据，在地理空间上预测束状棘球蚴的可能发生。这个复合体是研究进化和生物地理学的理想模式系统，因为它发生在整个加勒比海盆地及其周围。该项目将为博士生共同负责人提供教育培训，他将处于一个独特的位置，可以通过当地植物学会会议和/或业余出版物，以及通过植物园广泛传播他的发现，这些植物园关注保存非原生境植物材料对科学研究和保护的重要性。结果将首次评估整个西印度群岛受威胁的凤梨科植物的状况。美国最脆弱的生物多样性热点地区。

The evolution and distribution of species across the islands of the Caribbean are based overwhelmingly on zoological, rather than botanical, studies. This project integrates a suite of novel approaches to study the pattern and process of evolution in the Tillandsia fasciculata species complex, an epiphytic flowering plant classified in the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae). Goals of the study are to: 1) evaluate the ancestry of the T. fasciculata complex and determine evolutionary relationships among its species, subspecies, and varieties; 2) examine genetic variation within this species complex throughout the Caribbean; and 3) predict the possible occurrence of T. fasciculata in geographic space based on known distribution data. This complex is an ideal model system to study evolution and biogeography since it occurs in and around the entire Caribbean Basin. The project will provide educational training to the doctoral student co-PI, who is in a unique position to broadly disseminate his findings via local plant society meetings and/or amateur publications, and through botanical gardens that focus on the importance of maintaining ex-situ plant material for scientific research and conservation. Results will be the first to evaluate the status of threatened bromeliads throughout the West Indies, one of the world?s most fragile biodiversity hotspots.