Dissertation Research: Evolutionary Genetics of the Adiantumpedatum Complex

在指导教师David Barrington博士的指导下，Cathy Paris女士将采用几种现代分子方法以及传统的形态学和染色体分析来评估北半球广泛分布的蕨类植物（菊苣）的遗传变异和进化趋势。这项研究将测量该复合体中几个分类亚种之间的基因差异水平，并将为日本和北美东部已知的双染色体种族的可能起源提供证据，这些种族被怀疑代表了这些蕨类植物中独立的、平行的多倍体发生。该研究将蕨类植物的传统分类研究与新的分子数据库相结合，并将重点放在植物进化中的一个有趣问题上。

Under the guidance of faculty adviser Dr. David Barrington, Ms. Cathy Paris will employ several modern molecular methods along with traditional morphological and chromosomal analyses to assess genetic variability and trends of evolution within the geographically widespread complex of Northern Hemisphere maiden- hair ferns, Adiantum pedatum. The research will measure levels of gene differences among the several taxonomic subspecies in this complex, and will provide evidence on the likely origins of the doubled-chromosome races known in Japan and in eastern North America, and suspected to represent independent, parallel occurrences of polyploidy in these ferns. The research provides a comprehensive integration of traditional taxonomic studies of fern characters with new molecular databases, and focuses upon an interesting problem in plant evolution.