Collaborative Research: 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没有考虑影响其生态功能的物种属性之间的关系，这些功能特征背后的遗传变异，以及它们所属群落的动态。该项目将侧重于Protea和Pelargonium，这两个南非植物属经历了巨大的多样化，目前跨越两个生物多样性热点，即大角角植物区（GFCR）的fynbos和肉质karoo生物群落。该项目将在遗传和进化背景下发展对功能性状变异的理解，从而预测它们发生的社区的特征以及这些社区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的速度。这些信息将被用来检查分类和性状多样性对生态系统恢复力的影响，以应对火灾周期interval.The project will expose postdoctoral scholars，研究生，本科生和高中生到国际研究，包括学生积极招募从服务不足的人群都在美国和南非。它将积极加强养护基础设施，在项目的所有方面与南非国家生物多样性研究所密切合作，促进生物多样性科学、政策和养护行动。

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.