CAREER: Hybridization and radiation: Integrating across phylogenomics, ancestral niche evolution, and pollination biology

杂交--物种之间的遗传信息流--是生物多样性的主要来源，特别是在植物中。杂交还涉及重要的经济过程，如农作物的驯化和杂草物种的进化。生物学家已经取得了实质性的进展，描述了许多生物的杂交，并研究了它对进化适应和新物种起源的意义。然而，为什么一些生物体经常杂交，而另一些生物体却没有杂交，背后的原因仍然不清楚。理解这些原因需要一个在古代和现代不同环境中进行过杂交的合适的研究有机体。这项研究将使用开花植物Heuchera属，通常被称为芦根或珊瑚铃木。研究人员将研究北美Heuchera杂交的环境背景，并通过其最近的地质史进行研究。将使用所有物种的遗传数据、生态模型和植物及其传粉者的挥发性化学图谱来评估杂交物种与其气候环境之间的关系。这些数据和模型将被实施到教学计划中，将数据科学培训引入密西西比州立大学的课堂。学生将通过以课程为基础的本科生研究经验(CURE)获得实践经验。该项目将惠及两个已有的课程，并将开发两个新课程。暑期研究经验将使学生进一步学习现场、实验室和计算技能。此外，为高中教师举办的讲习班将导致为高中生开发数据科学课程。研究人员还将通过针对职业生涯早期的植物科学家的数据辩论研讨会系列，与科学界进行接触。最后，研究人员将推出一个网站，专注于这些具有重要经济意义的园林植物的公开可获取的科学信息。该项目寻求测试的总体理论是，杂交频率与有机体和它们所处环境随时间的变化有关，这两者都控制着遗传信息的流动。这项研究中产生的数据和模型将被用来检验三个具体的假设：杂交频率是由(1)今天不断变化的季节性气候和(2)经历了重大过去气候变化的地区的环境驱动的，以及(3)由广泛种类的昆虫授粉而不是由一种狭窄的目标昆虫授粉的生物驱动的。该项目由系统学和生物多样性科学、已建立的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)和进化过程联合资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Hybridization—the flow of genetic information between species—is a major source of biodiversity, especially in plants. Hybridization is also involved in economically important processes such as the domestication of crop plants and the evolution of weedy species. Biologists have made substantial progress describing hybridization in many organisms and investigating its significance for evolutionary adaptation and the origin of new species. However, the reasons behind why some organisms hybridize often but others do not remain obscure. Understanding these reasons requires an appropriate research organism that has engaged in hybridization in different environments both in ancient and modern times. This study will use the flowering plant genus Heuchera, commonly known as alumroot or coral bells. Researchers will study the environmental context of hybridization in Heuchera across North America and through its recent geological history. The relationship between hybridizing species and their climatic environment will be assessed using genetic data for all species, ecological modeling, and volatile chemical profiling of plants and their pollinators. These data and models will be implemented into a teaching plan that introduces data science training into classes at Mississippi State University. Students will gain hands-on experience through course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). This project will benefit two established courses, and two new courses will be developed. Summer research experiences will further enable students to learn field, lab, and computational skills. Additionally, a workshop for high school teachers will result in development of data science curricula for high school students. The researchers will also outreach to the scientific community through a Data Wrangling workshop series aimed at early-career plant scientists. Finally, the researchers will launch a website focusing on publicly accessible scientific information for these economically important landscaping plants.The overall theory that this project seeks to test is that hybridization frequency is related to change through time both of organisms and of the environments they live in, both of which control the flow of genetic information. The data and models produced in this study will be used to test three specific hypotheses: hybridization frequency is environmentally driven by (1) the changing seasonal climates of today and (2) areas that experienced substantial past climate change, and biologically driven by (3) pollination by a broad variety of insects rather than a narrow target insect. This project is jointly funded by Systematics and Biodiversity Science, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and Evolutionary Processes.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.