Evolution of a giant genus (II): A phylogenetic case study within Peperomia (Piperaceae)

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In the last two years, major progress has been made towards a synthesis of generated data and solution of major systematic and taxonomic issues in the species-rich genus Peperomia. Furthermore, sequence data have been generated and morphological traits have been scored to trace character evolution. All scheduled tasks of the first two years have been accomplished. Although we already published several papers documenting the progress made, two additional years are needed to complete the existing datasets, to analyze and interpret the data as well as to publish the main papers. In detail we will focus on: i) sequence material from the last field trip which focused on the more ancestral (terrestrial) species of the mainly epiphytic genus, ii) enlarging the backbone phylogeny with accessions from these collections and material obtained from cooperation partners, iii) evaluate the phylogenetic implication of the generated data, especially with respect to molecular evolution (e.g. rate heterogeneity) as well as systematic and taxonomic implications, iv) adding a biogeographical approach, enabled by an almost complete sampling of the geophytic species as well as a representative worldwide sampling for the whole genus, and last but not least v) we will perform ancestral area reconstructions and molecular dating analyses, providing a picture as complete as possible of the evolution of this group.