DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Systematics and Biogeography of the tribe Vanilleae (Orchidaceae), and a monograph of the genus Epistephium

兰科可能是开花植物中最大的一科，每年都会有数十个新物种被描述出来，其中大部分来自热带。这项研究将有助于通过对鲜为人知的新热带兰属Epistephium的研究来更好地了解兰科。研究人员将首先重建该属内部的系统发育关系，然后利用由此产生的系统发育图进行物种水平的系统修订。一名研究生和几名本科生将接受系统修正性研究和分子系统发生学方面的培训。将通过与厄瓜多尔和巴西的研究人员合作，加强国际研究基础设施。这项研究还为研究香兰亚科内部的进化关系提供了新的见解，该亚科包含了经济上重要的香兰属。该项目旨在完全解决香兰亚族的系统发育关系，该部落涵盖了香兰亚科的大多数热带代表。研究人员将使用下一代测序方法收集部落所有属的大量DNA序列数据，并促进高度支持的系统发育树的重建。由此产生的系统发育假说又将使人们能够更深入地分析该部落当前和历史上的生物地理分布(包括两个跨大西洋分离的例子和研究太平洋和东南亚岛屿生物地理的机会)。随后将进行进化和远距离扩散测试，以确定该种群如何达到目前的分布。最后，将出版该部落第二大属Epistephium的种级专著。

The orchid family may be the largest family of flowering plants, with dozens of new species being described each year, mostly from the tropics. This research will contribute to be a better understanding of the orchid family by focusing on the poorly known neotropical genus, Epistephium. Researchers will first reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within the genus, and then use the resulting phylogeny to conduct a species-level systematic revision. One graduate student and several undergraduates will be trained in systematic revisionary studies and molecular phylogenetics. International research infrastructure will be enhanced through collaborations with researchers in Ecuador and Brazil. The research also offers to provide new insights into evolutionary relationships within the Vanilloideae subfamily, that contains the economically important genus, Vanilla.This project aims to fully resolve the phylogenetic relationships of the tribe Vanillieae, which encompasses most tropical representatives of the subfamily Vanilloideae. Researchers will employ next-generation sequencing approaches to collect large amounts of DNA sequence data from all genera in the tribe and facilitate reconstruction of a highly supported phylogenetic tree. The resulting phylogenetic hypothesis will in turn allow a deeper analysis of the current and historical biogeographic distribution of the tribe (involving two examples of trans-Atlantic disjunctions and the opportunity to study island biogeography in the Pacific and SE Asia). Phylogenetic tests for vicariance and long distance dispersal will then be conducted out to identify how the group attained its current distribution. Lastly, a species-level monograph of Epistephium, the second largest genus in the tribe, will be produced.