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

加勒比岛屿上物种的进化和分布绝大多数是基于动物学而不是植物学研究。 该项目集成了一套新的方法来研究的模式和过程中的铁兰种簇，一种附生开花植物菠萝科（凤梨科）的进化。 本研究的目的是：1）评估T。fasciculata复合体，并确定其物种，亚种和变种之间的进化关系; 2）检查整个加勒比地区该物种复合体内的遗传变异; 3）预测T.根据已知的分布数据在地理空间中的fasciculata。这个复杂的是一个理想的模式系统，研究进化和地理，因为它发生在整个加勒比海盆地和周围。 该项目将提供教育培训的博士生共同PI，谁是在一个独特的位置，广泛传播他的研究结果，通过当地的植物学会会议和/或业余出版物，并通过植物园，重点是保持异地植物材料的重要性，为科学研究和保护。结果将是第一个评估整个西印度群岛，世界之一的受威胁凤梨的地位？世界上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.