RUI: Surveys of Podostemaceae (riverweeds) in Latin America

将对拉丁美洲的开花植物Podostemaceae（河草）进行为期四年的物种调查（“河草”的共同名称是不幸的，因为这些植物原产于拉丁美洲，而不是杂草，并且在热带水生系统中发挥重要的生态作用）。河草通常是高度变异的，有时几乎是像藻类一样的植物，花和果实减少，只发生在快速流动的水域和瀑布地区，这些地区是热带水生栖息地受到最不利影响的地区（例如，大坝建设、淤积和农业污染）。很明显，一些河草正濒临灭绝。然而，由于目前对这些植物的分类认识不足，评估灭绝威胁程度的能力受到严重阻碍。物种（甚至属）之间的区别尚不清楚。拟议的项目是解决这一问题的核心。实地调查将提供必要的标本，以建立对美洲该科的分类学认识。与墨西哥同事Alejandro Novelo博士和其他几位专家合作，将在墨西哥南部、中美洲、委内瑞拉和圭亚那西北部进行实地调查。这些国家代表了美洲河草种类最丰富的地区。从现场收集中获得的洞察力将允许回答两个基本问题。首先，在大量据报道的地方性物种（只发生在一个地方）中，哪些是真正独特的，而不是之前对分类学理解不佳的人工产物？第二，哪些物种由于总体地理分布的文献不足而被错误地认定为特有种？只有当这些问题得到解答时，才有可能澄清河草的保护状况。这个项目代表了第一次协调一致的尝试，通过解决在种和属水平上的分类概念，来处理中美洲和南美洲北部河流杂草中所代表的分类混乱。该项目还将为河草的研究提供广泛的帮助，为包括地理参考和分类测定在内的标本数据库提供互联网接入。拟议的收集和研究将加强和多样化西康涅狄格州立大学的本科生研究和培训。本科生将担任该项目的研究助理。在项目期间，多达20名本科生将面临挑战，因为他们将参与项目的广泛领域和实验室组成部分，并接触到保护生物学和系统生物学领域的思想和方法。RUI项目强大的国际组成部分将使本科生获得在拉丁美洲进行研究的宝贵经验，并与拉丁美洲的同事密切合作。为了进一步实现这些目标，美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室的美洲项目为该项目提供了共同资金。首席研究员Philbrick博士将把该项目的成果直接整合到三门本科课程中，从而加强本科教育。学生应该了解基础研究对于解决自然资源保护问题的重要性，这是现代社会的一个重要问题。

0444589PhilbrickA four-year survey of species of the flowering plant family Podostemaceae (riverweeds) in Latin America will be conducted (the common name "riverweed" is unfortunate because these plants are native in Latin America, not weedy, and play important ecological roles in tropical aquatic systems). Riverweeds usually are highly modified, at times almost algal-like plants with reduced flowers and fruits, and occur only in rapidly moving waters and waterfall areas, areas that are among the most detrimentally impacted of tropical aquatic habitats (for example, from dam building, siltation and pollution from agriculture). It is clear that some riverweeds are being driven to extinction. The ability to assess the extent of the extinction threat, however, is severely hampered by the present poor taxonomic understanding of these plants. Distinctions between species (and even genera) are poorly understood. The proposed project is central to addressing this problem. Field surveys will provide the specimens necessary to build taxonomic understanding of the family in the Americas. Field surveys will occur in southern Mexico, all of Central America, Venezuela, and northwestern Guyana, in collaboration with Mexican colleague Dr. Alejandro Novelo and several other specialists. These countries represent the areas of greatest diversity of riverweeds in the Americas. Insight gained from field collections will allow two fundamental questions to be answered. First, which of the large number of reportedly endemic (occurring in only one location) species are truly distinctive, versus artifacts of prior poor taxonomic understanding? Second, which species are incorrectly recognized as endemic because of inadequate documentation of overall geographic distribution? Clarification of conservation status in riverweeds will only be possible when these questions can be answered. This project represents the first concerted attempt to deal with the taxonomic disarray represented in riverweeds throughout Central America and northern South America by addressing taxonomic concepts at both the species and genus levels. The project will also contribute broadly to the study of riverweeds by providing Internet access to specimen databases that will include geo-referenced and taxonomic determinations. The proposed collecting and research will strengthen and diversify undergraduate research and training at Western Connecticut State University. Undergraduates will serve as research assistants for the project. As many as 20 undergraduate students over the duration of the project will be challenged as they become involved in a wide range of field and laboratory components of the project, with exposure to ideas and methods in the fields of conservation biology and systematic biology. The strong international component of the RUI program will allow undergraduates to gain invaluable experience conducting research in Latin America, working closely with Latin American colleagues. In furtherance of these goals, the Americas Program of the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering is providing co-funding for this project. Dr. Philbrick, the Principal Investigator, will integrate the results of this project directly into three undergraduate courses, and thereby strengthen undergraduate education. Students should gain understanding of the importance of basic research for addressing problems of natural resource conservation, an issue of fundamental importance in modern societies.