Dissertation Research: Phylogenetic Relationships within Passiflora L. Section Cieca Mast. (Passifloraceae)

西番莲（Passifloraceae）是一个大属，约有500种，主要分布在热带美洲、东南亚和澳大利亚。 西番莲是受欢迎的花园植物，因为它们美丽，复杂的花朵，并为它们的果实而商业种植。 此外，他们正在研究其医药应用。 西番莲组Cieca目前包括13种草本到木本藤本植物，其特征在于小花没有花瓣，两个系列的冠状花序和网状种皮。 该科分布于美国南部、墨西哥、中美洲、南美洲和加勒比海地区。 这些花主要由蜜蜂和黄蜂授粉，在牙买加和墨西哥南部的三个物种中，有一个有趣的转变是蜂鸟授粉。 在Cieca组中的一个物种，Passiflora clypeophylla，被怀疑已经灭绝，但这还没有得到确切的证明。 另外三个被列为濒危或受威胁。 为了研究组Cieca内的进化关系，我们将进行详细的修订组集中在DNA序列和形态特征的组合分析。将密切关注授粉生物学，以研究选择力，导致了蜜蜂和黄蜂的变化，蜂鸟授粉。 在可能的情况下，将观察和鉴定Cieca组内该物种的食草蝴蝶，以补充文献报道，并调查西番莲蝴蝶（Heliconiinae）和西番莲之间的密切关系。 详细的检索表、描述、分布图和插图将包括在修订本中，沿着分支系统学、地理学和生态学分析。这项研究将有助于更好地了解西番莲科植物在物种水平上的进化。 这项调查将是第一次将现代分支系统学方法在形态学研究的任何组内西番莲属。 拟议中的研究还将使用相结合的形态和分子数据矩阵，以发展假设的系统发育关系的部分，并将有助于更好地了解这种方法在植物系统学的效用。此外，这项研究将允许评价Heliconiinae-Passiflora coevolutionary关系的基础上，一组西番莲属内的物种的系统发育假说支持。 最后，这项研究将是少数几项试图确定导致一组密切相关的热带物种从hyperteran到鸟类授粉的进化力量的研究之一。因此，拟议的研究的结果将是一个更广泛的了解内的一组迅速演变的植物物种的新热带区的进化趋势和关系。

Passiflora (plant family Passifloraceae) is a large genus consisting of approximately 500 species primarily occurring in tropical America, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Passion flowers are popular garden plants because of their beautiful, intricate flowers and are grown commercially for their fruit. Additionally, they are being investigated for their medicinal applications. Passiflora section Cieca currently comprises 13 species of herbaceous to woody vines that are characterized by small flowers without petals, filaments of the corona in two series and reticulate seed coats. The section is distributed in the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The flowers are primarily pollinated by bees and wasps, with an interesting shift to hummingbird pollination in three species occurring in Jamaica and southern Mexico. One species within section Cieca, Passiflora clypeophylla, is suspected to be extinct but this has not been definitively proven. Three others are listed as endangered or threatened. In order to examine the evolutionary relationships within section Cieca, we will conduct a detailed revision of the group focusing on the combined analysis of DNA sequences and morphological characters. Close attention will be paid to pollination biology in order to examine the selective forces that have led to a change from bee and wasp to hummingbird pollination. Where possible the butterfly herbivores of the species within section Cieca will be observed and identified in order to supplement literature reports and to investigate the close relationship between passion-vine butterflies (Heliconiinae) and Passiflora. A detailed key, descriptions, distribution maps, and illustrations will be included in the revision, along with cladistic, biogeographical and ecological analyses. The proposed study will significantly contribute to a better understanding of evolution at the species level in the Passifloraceae. This investigation will be the first to incorporate modern cladistic methods in a morphological study of any group within the genus Passiflora. The proposed research will also use combined morphological and molecular data matrices to develop hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships in the section and will contribute to a better understanding of the utility of such an approach in plant systematics. In addition, this research will permit the evaluation of the Heliconiinae-Passiflora coevolutionary relationship based upon a well-supported phylogenetic hypothesis for a group of species within Passiflora. Lastly, this study will be one of the few studies to attempt to determine the evolutionary forces that have led from hymenopteran to bird pollination in a group of closely related, tropical species. Thus, the result of the proposed study will be a more extensive understanding of evolutionary trends and relationships within a group of rapidly evolving plant species of the neotropics.