NSFDEB-NERC: Subtribal classification and generic delimitation among Eastern Hemisphere ironweeds (Vernonieae, Compositae).

生物多样性危机是人类在21世纪世纪面临的最紧迫的全球威胁之一。地球上有近50万种植物，了解它们的多样性是一个关键的优先事项。然而，植物种类太多，没有足够的训练有素的分类学家来研究、描述和传播有关它们的信息。这对于大型植物家族如向日葵家族（菊科）尤其成问题，向日葵家族包括超过30，000个物种和近2，000个属。其中一个高度多样化的植物类群包括大约1,500种“铁草”（斑鸠菊科），这对植物学家来说是如此具有挑战性，以至于它通常被称为“邪恶部落”。直到最近，大多数“铁草”（1，000种）被归入一个单一的，广泛定义的属，斑鸠菊属。然而，该属已减少到仅包括21种仅限于美洲。仅在东半球，斑鸠菊科就有700多个物种，其中三分之一以上仍属于斑鸠菊属，等待被归入另一个属。该项目将支持基于野外和标本室收集的东半球铁草的DNA和形态特征的关键采样。这些遗传和形态学数据将澄清部落中的分类界限，并形成比较研究的基础，以了解这一多样化和经济上重要的植物群中物种之间的进化关系。作为这项工作的一部分收集的数据将被添加到新建立的全球菊科数据库（GCD），这是一个公共的在线分类资源。这项工作的结果将通过全球合作文件广泛分发，并将提供新的综合分类工具。该项目还将通过GCD为全球菊科专家社区提供广泛的支持，并通过研讨会，教程，公开讲座和视频激励和培训下一代植物分类学家。培训将提供给不同教育阶段（从K-12到研究生院）的学生，专业人士（例如，这个项目的成果将对我们如何描述和交流一个巨大的、历史上具有挑战性的植物群体（斑鸠菊科）的多样性产生重大影响，而斑鸠菊科又是地球上物种最丰富的植物家族（菊科）的一部分。专门研究斑鸠菊族分类学的植物学家一直在努力了解可以帮助区分东半球700多个物种的特征。实地工作将在五个国家（即刚果、马达加斯加、莫桑比克、南非和泰国）进行，并将对四个植物标本馆的标本进行研究，这些标本馆拥有世界上最大的斑鸠菊科历史标本。DNA数据将使用高通量测序方法生成，该方法已被证明可以重建该组物种之间的进化关系。将对包括花粉在内的150多个宏观和微观形态特征进行详细分析。这些数据将进行分析，采用综合的方法来解决通用的限制，并确定在进化框架中的东半球斑鸠菊科物种的准确位置。研究结果将为全球菊科数据库和相关分类资源提供一个广泛的、首创的工具包，以促进馆藏管理，帮助培训下一代分类学家，并推进有关这些神秘植物多样性和进化的集体知识。所有工作都将与当地植物学家和学生合作开展，以发展当地的专业知识，并支持不断增长的国际分类学专家网络，他们将推进菊科系统学的共同目标。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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。

The biodiversity crisis is among the most urgent global threats facing humanity in the 21st century. With nearly half a million plant species on Earth, understanding their diversity is a key priority. However, there are too many plant species and not enough trained taxonomists to study, describe and distribute information about them. This is especially problematic for large plant families such as the sunflower family (Compositae), which includes more than 30,000 species and nearly 2,000 genera. One of the hyper-diverse plant groups within this family includes approximately 1,500 species of “ironweeds” (Vernonieae), which has proven so challenging for botanists that it is often referred to as the “evil tribe”. Until recently, most species of “ironweeds” (1,000) were placed into a single, broadly defined genus, Vernonia. However, this genus has been reduced to include only 21 species restricted to the Americas. In the Eastern Hemisphere alone, Vernonieae is represented by more than 700 species and more than one third of these remain in the genus Vernonia, awaiting placement in a different genus. This project will support critical sampling of DNA and morphological characters from ironweeds in the Eastern Hemisphere based on field and herbarium collections. These genetic and morphological data will clarify taxonomic boundaries in the tribe and form the basis of comparative studies to understand evolutionary relationships among species in this diverse and economically important group of plants. Data collected as part of this work will be added to the newly established Global Compositae Database (GCD), a public, online taxonomic resource. Results of this work will be broadly distributed through the GCD, and new, integrative taxonomic tools will be made available. This project will also provide broad support to the global community of Compositae specialists through the GCD and inspire and train the next generation of plant taxonomists through workshops, tutorials, public lectures, and videos. Training will be provided to a diverse and international community of students at various stages of their education (from K-12 to graduate school), professionals (e.g., collections managers and curators, postdocs, and faculty), and the public.Outcomes from this project will have a significant impact on how we describe and communicate about diversity in a large and historically challenging group of plants (Vernonieae), which in turn is part of the most species-rich plant family on Earth (Compositae). Botanists who specialize in the taxonomy of Vernonieae have struggled to understand the characters that can help differentiate among the more than 700 species in this tribe that occur in the Eastern Hemisphere. Field work will be based in five countries (namely Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, and Thailand) and collections will be studied from four herbaria, which hold the largest historical collections of Vernonieae in the world. DNA data will be generated using a high-throughput sequencing method, which has been proven to reconstruct evolutionary relationships among species in this group. Detailed analyses will be conducted on a set of more than 150 macro- and micromorphological characters, including pollen. These data will be analyzed using an integrative approach to resolve generic limits and determine the accurate placement of species of Eastern Hemisphere Vernonieae in an evolutionary framework. Results will inform an expansive, first-of-its-kind toolkit for the Global Compositae Database and associated taxonomic resources to facilitate collections management, help train the next generation of taxonomists, and advance collective knowledge regarding diversity and evolution of these enigmatic plants. All work will be carried out in collaboration with local botanists and students to develop local expertise and support a growing international network of taxonomic experts, who will advance shared goals for Compositae systematics.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.