Closing a Gap in Macroevolutionary Studies: Integrating Fossils and Phenotypes to Illuminate Morphological Evolution in Monocot Flowering Plants

缩小宏观进化研究的差距：整合化石和表型以阐明单子叶开花植物的形态进化

• 批准号: 1949151
• 负责人: Selena Smith
• 金额: $ 52.34万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-15 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1949151&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Closing; Gap; Macroevolutionary; Studies; Integrating

This project will study monocot flowering plants, a highly diverse group of plants that are economically and ecologically important, including many staple foods (grains, plantains, oil palms), horticulturally valuable plants (lilies, orchids, irises), and the main components of ecosystems such as grasslands and wetlands. The leaves and fruits/seeds from both living and fossil monocots will be studied to understand how morphology has changed over the evolutionary history of this important group. Broadening our understanding of evolutionary patterns and processes across all life is relevant to addressing present-day challenges such as how species and Earth systems will adapt to current and future environmental change. The project will provide training for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, including those who are from groups that are currently underrepresented in STEM fields. In addition, a new website to increase recognition of Earth & environmental scientists who are from a diversity of backgrounds and experiences will be created and a public display at the University of Michigan Natural History Museum will help communicate findings from this research to the public.A subset of monocot flowering plants will be used as a model system for understanding macroevolutionary processes relating to phenotypic diversity. Morphological data on leaf and fruit/seed traits from four orders-Alismatales (water-plantains and seagrasses), Pandanales (screw-pines), Arecales (palms) and Zingiberales (bananas & gingers)-will be collected to build a novel phenotypic framework facilitating the interpretation and phylogenetic placement of fossil taxa. A new time-calibrated phylogenetic tree will be produced using a revised fossil record. Properties of plant traits, including correlations among traits and differences between vegetative (leaf) and reproductive (fruit/seed) traits on phylogenetic inference will be characterized. Finally, the phenotypic data will be analyzed to infer temporal shifts in morphospace, quantify disparity, and determine rates and modes of morphological evolution in these four clades of monocots.This award is co-funded with the Systematics and Biodiversity Sciences program (Division of Environmental Biology).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.

该项目将研究单子叶开花植物，这是一个具有经济和生态重要性的高度多样化的植物群，包括许多主食（谷物，大蕉，油棕），园艺价值植物（百合，兰花，鸢尾）以及生态系统的主要组成部分，如草地和湿地。将研究活的和化石单子叶植物的叶子和果实/种子，以了解在这个重要群体的进化历史中形态是如何变化的。扩大我们对所有生命的进化模式和过程的理解与解决当今的挑战有关，例如物种和地球系统将如何适应当前和未来的环境变化。该项目将为高中生、本科生和研究生提供培训，包括那些目前在STEM领域代表性不足的群体。此外，一个新的网站，以提高认识的地球环境科学家谁是来自不同的背景和经验，将创建和密歇根大学自然历史博物馆的公开展示将有助于沟通的结果，从这项研究向公众。单子叶开花植物的一个子集将被用来作为一个模型系统，了解宏观进化过程与表型多样性。叶和果实/种子性状的形态学数据，从四个订单Alismatales（水芭蕉和海草），Pandanales（螺旋松），Aesthies（棕榈）和Aestheberales（香蕉生姜）-将收集建立一个新的表型框架，促进化石类群的解释和系统发育的位置。一个新的时间校准系统发育树将使用修订的化石记录。植物性状的特性，包括性状之间的相关性和营养（叶）和生殖（果实/种子）性状之间的差异对系统发育推断的特点。最后，将分析表型数据以推断形态空间中的时间变化，量化差异，并确定这四个单子叶植物分支的形态进化速率和模式。该奖项与系统学和生物多样性科学项目共同资助（环境生物学）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，更广泛的影响审查标准。