Evolution of growth and life forms in Piperales Country and continent relation: France (Europe), Fr. Guiana, Mexico, Costa Rica (America), China (Asia)

花枝属植物几乎代表了被子植物的全部生长和生命形式，包括草本植物、灌木、乔木、寄生物、附生植物和攀缘植物。这种多样性是胡椒在许多生态系统中成功的标志。尽管植物的生命和生长形式对生态系统的复杂性和生物多样性具有重要意义，但很少有研究评估它们在被子植物主要类群中的进化发生和模式。本项目旨在分析基生被子植物中最大的分支——胡椒目植物的生命和生长形态进化。该项目将结合(i)生物力学技术和（ii）最新的分子系统发育方法来研究形态特征及其进化。我们的主要研究方法是：(1)识别不同形态的基本生物力学和水力性状，如纤维产量、次生生长、茎刚性/柔韧性和导电性；(2)利用各种系统发育方法观察这些性状和形态在不同类群中的分布。

Piperales represent virtually the whole diversity of growth and life forms in angiosperms including herbs, shrubs, trees, parasites, epiphytes and climbers. This diversity is symptomatic for the success of Piperales in many ecosystems. Despite the importance of plant life and growth forms for ecosystem complexity and biodiversity, few studies have evaluated their evolutionary occurrence and patterns across major groups of angiosperms. This project aims at analyzing life and growth form evolution in the order Piperales, which represents the largest clade of basal angiosperms. The project will combine (i) biomechanical techniques with (ii) recent molecular phylogenetic approaches to study form traits and their evolution. Our main approaches are (1) identifying essential biomechanical and hydraulic traits e.g. fiber production, secondary growth as well as stem rigidity/flexibility and conductivity in different forms, and (2) to observe how these traits and forms are distributed across taxa in the Piperales using a variety of phylogenetic methods.