Collaborative Research: ARTS: Diversification in the Perennial Endemic North American (PENA) clade of Apiaceae: Defining genera and species in a major western North American radiat

奥尔多·利奥波德（Aldo Leopold，1953年）经常被引用为“保留每一个齿轮和车轮是智能修补的第一个预防措施”。首先，你必须知道什么是齿轮和轮子。伞形科（Apiaceae）的多年生北美特有种（Perennial Endemic North American，佩纳）是一个约200种的类群，主要分布于美国西部，是北美最大的植物类群之一。诸如佩纳这样的不同群体使物种边界的最佳划分复杂化，并限制了良好保护做法的实施。拟议的工作将利用分子，生态，形态和气候数据，以澄清分支内的物种的分类和关系，并提供一个修订和更新的分类为该组。将开发基于网络的电子出版物，其中包括交互式检索表，以及带有描述、图像、分布图和标本数据链接的物种页面。由于这项研究的重点是在北美的一个大的，多样化的植物群，它提供了一个广泛的跨部门的目标受众的科学推广和培训的前景广阔。所有级别的学生都将参与这个项目。将招募代表性不足的本科生和研究生（特别是美洲土著和西班牙裔）参加实地和实验室工作。将为K-12学生和他们的老师组织爱达荷州的实地研究，向他们介绍这些植物的分类学、进化和民族植物学。最后，所产生的识别工具和特定物种的环境和生态数据将有助于保护在这一群体中发现的许多稀有物种。 大尺度的研究具有广泛的意义，考虑到这一点，我们建议使用一个大的，广泛分布的植物分支，佩纳分支，与表型，生态，地理和气候来界定物种。尽管它在西部植物群中的规模和重要性，但对这一群的进化知之甚少，这一事实反映在其属的人为性上。该项目将利用所有已知物种和种下分类群的全面取样，发展佩纳分支的分子系统发育假说，作为检验物种划界和与形态、生态、地理和气候或其组合相一致的关系的具体假说的框架。它将为整个佩纳分支提供订正的分类法，并以电子专著的形式在网上传播这一信息，以支持有效的生物多样性管理，并促进进一步的科学调查。虽然这个项目的主要目标是更好地划定佩纳分支的分类和物种边界，但这项工作的完成将使未来的研究能够调查物种形成的模式和过程，生态相互作用，社区集会，并提供了一个更好的了解北美西部植物群的多样化，以及生物区系依赖于该植物群。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，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，被认为值得支持。

Aldo Leopold (1953) is often cited as saying "To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering" in reference to conservation. However, you first have to know what the cogs and wheels are. The Perennial Endemic North American (PENA) clade of Apiaceae is a group of ~200 species primarily from the western USA, representing one of the largest plant groups in North America. Diverse groups such as PENA complicate understanding where species boundaries are best drawn and limit implementing good conservation practices. The proposed work will utilize molecular, ecological, morphological, and climatic data to clarify the taxonomy and relationships of species within the clade and provide a revised and updated classification for this group. Web-based electronic publications that include interactive keys, as well as species pages with descriptions, images, distribution maps, and links to specimen data, will be developed. Because this study focuses on a large, diverse plant group in North America, it provides a wide range of prospects for scientific outreach and training across a broad cross section of target audiences. Students of all levels will be involved in this project. Underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students (particularly of Native American and Hispanic heritage) will be recruited to take part in field and laboratory work. Field studies in Idaho will be organized for K-12 students and their teachers, introducing them to the taxonomy, evolution, and ethnobotany of these plants. Lastly, the identification tools and species-specific environmental and ecological data generated will aid in the conservation of the many rare species found within this group. Research at broad scales has wide-ranging implications, and with this in mind, we propose to use a large, broadly distributed clade of plants, the PENA clade, to relate phenotype, ecology, geography, and climate to delimit species. Despite its size and importance in the western flora, the evolution of this group is poorly understood, a fact reflected in the artificiality of its genera. This project will develop molecular-phylogenetic hypotheses of the PENA clade using comprehensive sampling of all known species and infraspecific taxa to serve as a framework to test specific hypotheses on species delimitation and relationships congruent with morphology, ecology, geography, and climate or a combination. It will provide a revised taxonomy for the entire PENA clade and disseminate this information online in the form of electronic monographs to support effective biodiversity management and stimulate further scientific inquiry. Although the primary goal of this project is to better delimit the taxonomy and species boundaries of the PENA clade, the completion of this work will allow future studies to investigate patterns and processes of speciation, ecological interactions, community assembly and provide a greater understanding for the diversification of western North American Flora as well as the Biota that rely on that flora.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.