Dissertation Research: Evolution of Floral Morphology and Systematics of Cobaea Cav. (Polemoniaceae)

小行星9412174 研究生艾伦·普拉瑟在德克萨斯大学教师顾问比莉·特纳的指导下，正在对夹竹桃科的热带植物属Cobaea进行实地和实验室研究。 据估计，该集团包括CA。20种分布于美洲热带，大多数种只在小的，孤立的种群中出现，主要在山坡上。 这些物种的花的形态是多样的，往往壮观，植物通常产生大花，假设是蝙蝠授粉。 除了花、果和营养特征的形态学研究外，学生还通过扫描电子显微镜分析花粉，以获得分类鉴别的新特征。 此外，被称为ITS（内部转录间隔区）的核核糖体区域的DNA测序方法正在被用来收集所有物种的比较核苷酸数据，用于估计突变差异和重建系统发育关系。 结合分子和形态学的方法来研究所有现存的物种的新热带属承诺改进这些植物的分类，洞察他们的系谱亲和力，和了解的途径，花的功能多样化的授粉剂。

9412174 Turner Graduate student Alan Prather, under the direction of faculty adviser Billie Turner at the University of Texas, is conducting a combined field and laboratory study of the tropical plant genus Cobaea of the phlox family, Polemoniaceae. The group is estimated to include ca. 20 species distributed in the American tropics, with most species occurring only in small, isolated populations primarily on mountain slopes. The floral morphology of these species is diverse and often spectacular, the plants usually producing large blossoms that are hypothesized to be bat pollinated. In addition to morphological study of floral, fruit, and vegetative features, the student is analyzing pollen by scanning electron microscopy, to acquire new characters for taxonomic discrimination. Also, methods of DNA sequencing of the nuclear ribosomal regions called ITS (internal transcribed spacers) are being employed to collect comparative nucleotide data across all species, for estimation of mutation differences and reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships. The combination of molecular and morphological approaches to the study of all extant species of a neotropical genus promises an improved classification for these plants, insight to their genealogical affinities, and understanding of the pathways by which floral features have diversified in relation to pollinating agents.