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

加勒比海岛屿上物种的进化和分布绝大多数是基于动物学研究，而不是植物学研究。该项目集成了一套新的方法来研究凤梨科(菠萝科)附生开花植物丛枝铁杉物种复合体的进化模式和过程。这项研究的目标是：1)评估丛枝卷蛾复合体的祖先，并确定其物种、亚种和变种之间的进化关系；2)检查整个加勒比海地区该物种复合体内的遗传变异；3)根据已知的分布数据，预测丛枝卷蛾在地理空间上可能发生的情况。这个复合体是研究进化和生物地理的理想模式系统，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co-Pi提供教育培训，他处于一个独特的地位，可以通过当地植物学会会议和/或业余出版物广泛传播他的研究成果，以及通过侧重于维护异地植物材料对科学研究和保护的重要性的植物园。结果将第一个评估整个西印度群岛受到威胁的菠萝现状？？S是世界上生物多样性最脆弱的热点地区之一。

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.