Systematics, biogeography and evolution of northern floras

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A central aim of systematics is to identify the processes that shape diversity across space and time. Northern floras offer interesting opportunities to do so, as they have been through some of the most intense periods of past climate change. My long term research goal is to discover, classify and protect the awe-inspiring biodiversity of northern plants, and to identify the processes responsible for generating and maintaining this diversity. Towards this goal, I will focus on three short-term objectives that will shed light on the impact of past climate change on evolution of northern floras at three evolutionary scales: macro-evolutionary (Objective 1), micro-evolutionary (Objective 2), and ecological (Objective 3). Objective 1 is to quantify the influence of historical climate change on the diversity and evolution of one of the most abundant plant families in the fossil record, Cyperaceae (>1000 fossils). We will first compile a comprehensive database of all fossils reported in the literature, and re-assess their taxonomic affinities through geometric morphometric analysis (BSc 1). The resulting fossil dataset will be of unprecedented size and quality in angiosperms, enabling high-resolution analysis of plant diversification dynamics, biogeography, niche evolution and fruit evolution throughout the last 100 million years that span the evolutionary history of Cyperaceae (MSc 1). Objective 2 is to develop the first genomic resources for Cyperaceae, and to use them to determine how climate influences the frequency of hybridization and introgression. Two Carex genomes will be assembled to chromosome-scale (PhD 1) at low cost from an experimental hybrid, which will allow estimation of the timing and intensity of ancient introgression events, based on the lengths of introgressed genomic blocks. We will also expand on our previous investigations of host-parasite interactions in Cyperaceae by utilizing Anthracoidea fungi, which preferentially parasitize hybrids, as a proxy to infer the frequency of hybridization in deep time (Msc 2). Objective 3 will be to accelerate taxonomic research on the Freshwater Tidal Flora, a rich but threatened North American centre of endemism. Through parallel taxonomic and population genomic studies of two Cyperaceae (BSc 2, MSc 3) and one Asteraceae (PhD 2) lineage endemic to this Flora, we will discover shared patterns of genetic diversity that can be used to prioritize conservation on the most distinct populations and areas. We will then assemble a complete distribution database of all taxa occurring in the Freshwater Tidal Flora (c. 100 species; BSc 3) to test how area, climatic conditions and distance between estuaries affect endemicity, richness, phylogenetic diversity, and population genetic diversity (PhD 2). This combined approach will allow us to discover large-scale historical and ecological processes that shape diversity at all levels of biological complexity, from genes to species and whole communities.