Collaborative Research: New World Justicia s.l.: A microcosm for understanding covariation of floral traits and pollinators in a phylogenetic context

合作研究：New World Justicia s.l.：了解系统发育背景下花性状和传粉者共变的缩影

• 批准号: 1754493
• 负责人: Erin Tripp
• 金额: $ 30.04万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-04-01 至 2024-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1754493&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; New; World; Justicia

This project will investigate how flowering plants interact with animal pollinators over evolutionary time. Flowering plants dominate the majority of terrestrial ecosystems and most depend on animal pollinators to complete their lifecycle. Biologists hypothesize that the interaction with pollinators ultimately increases the number of flowering plants over time. However, important details are lacking about how this might be happening. Flower color, shape, and size are widely understood to reflect adaptation to pollinators. Yet, emerging evidence indicates that microscopic changes in floral features may also have large effects in driving new species to evolve. This project will investigate how biochemical, microscopic and macroscopic traits of flowers vary with different animal pollinators in the water-willow genus, Justicia. Researchers will determine the evolutionary relationships among Justicia species native to North, Central and South America to analyze trait data, including field-based observations of pollinator behavior. The project will train high school, undergraduate and graduate students, including members of under-represented groups and community college students, as well as a post-doctoral research associate. Researchers will provide outreach to the public about the ecological and economic importance of pollination biology through educational exhibits at the University of Colorado Boulder Museum of Natural History and Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden.This project will test the hypothesis that variation in morphological traits intimately involved with the reproductive success of flowering plants are inter-correlated and are associated with functional groups of animal visitors. Researchers will investigate the evolutionary history of New World Justicia (Acanthaceae; the Acanthus family), whose ca. 400 species show remarkable diversity in micro-morphological floral traits essential to reproduction, including anthers, pollen and stigmas, and support a range of vertebrate and invertebrate pollinators. Outcomes of the research will include a comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis for New World Justicia species based on nuclear genomic data, a quantitative analysis of macro- and micro-morphological variation in relationship to pollinator type, and improved taxonomic circumscriptions for this widespread yet poorly characterized lineage. Research will facilitate the discovery and description of species new to science, build herbarium research collections, and expand ethological information about pollinating animals. Targeted fieldwork in five Neotropical countries will strengthen international collaborations among US and Latin American scientists and facilitate investigation of this species-rich lineage.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个项目将研究开花植物如何在进化过程中与动物传粉者相互作用。有花植物在大多数陆地生态系统中占主导地位，并且大多数依赖于动物授粉者来完成其生命周期。生物学家假设，随着时间的推移，与传粉者的相互作用最终会增加开花植物的数量。然而，缺乏关于这可能如何发生的重要细节。花的颜色、形状和大小被广泛理解为反映了对传粉者的适应。然而，新出现的证据表明，花卉特征的微观变化也可能对推动新物种的进化产生重大影响。本研究将探讨不同动物传粉者对水柳属（Justicia）花的生化、显微和宏观性状的影响。研究人员将确定原产于北美，中美洲和南美洲的Justicia物种之间的进化关系，以分析性状数据，包括对传粉者行为的实地观察。该项目将培训高中生、本科生和研究生，包括代表性不足群体的成员和社区学院的学生，以及一名博士后研究助理。研究人员将通过在科罗拉多大学博尔德自然历史博物馆和兰乔圣安娜植物园举办的教育展览，向公众宣传授粉生物学的生态和经济重要性。该项目将检验一种假设，即与开花植物繁殖成功密切相关的形态特征的变化是相互关联的，并与动物游客的功能群体有关。研究人员将调查新世界Justicia（菊科; Acanthus家族）的进化历史，其ca。400个物种在生殖所必需的微形态花特征方面表现出显着的多样性，包括花药，花粉和柱头，并支持一系列脊椎动物和无脊椎动物传粉者。该研究的成果将包括基于核基因组数据的新世界Justicia物种的全面系统发育假设，与传粉者类型相关的宏观和微观形态变化的定量分析，以及改进这种广泛但特征不明显的谱系的分类学环境。研究将促进科学新物种的发现和描述，建立植物标本研究收藏，并扩大有关授粉动物的行为学信息。在五个新热带区国家进行的有针对性的实地考察将加强美国和拉丁美洲科学家之间的国际合作，并促进对这一物种丰富的谱系的调查。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。