DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Systematics and Pollinator Transitions in the Species-Rich Genus Ruellia (Acanthaceae)

植物和它们的传粉者的共同进化产生了各种各样的花的形状、颜色和大小。某些花的性状经常是相关的，这些相关性定义了通常所说的“授粉综合征”。例如，白花在夜间开放，有长长的管状花序，通常表明是天蛾授粉。传粉综合征的转变被广泛认为有助于植物物种的形成，包括开花植物的起源和辐射。本研究的目的是通过关注种类丰富的Ruellia属来研究这种转变。Ruellia大约有300种，是热带棘科的第二大属（约4000种）。基于初步的进化分析(E. Tripp, unpub。数据)，密切相关的物种经常表现出各种授粉综合征，这表明传粉者可能在Ruellia的整体物种形成中发挥了重要作用。虽然墨西哥是Ruellia多样性的热点地区，但目前墨西哥Ruellia物种的分类采样和野外收集很少。该提案描述了如何通过墨西哥南部的植物收集探险，再加上国家和国际植物标本馆的博物馆工作，将允许对Ruellia物种关系和授粉综合征的进化进行全面探索。方法包括分子测序、标准家谱分析、植物鉴定和形态分析、野外采集和植物标本馆管理，以及建立本地和/或区域植物区系处理。由于传粉的转变有助于植物多样化，研究这种转变以及Ruellia物种之间的关系可以深入了解植物物种形成的过程，从而产生生物多样性。生物多样性知识对每个人都至关重要，特别是热带分类群的知识，那里的关键栖息地正在以前所未有的速度消失。此外，植物收集是所有生物调查的基础，今天仍然是必不可少的，特别是在尚未记录许多多样性的热带地区。研究表明，收集的数据可用于保护决策1,2。这项工作将有利于墨西哥的保护基础设施，并促进美国和墨西哥机构、植物学家和学生之间的国际科学合作。为了确保我们成功地了解生物多样性的历史和未来，下一代生物学家必须继续接受传统野外生物学和博物馆/植物标本馆管理以及现代分子方法的培训。

The co-evolution of plants and their pollinators has given rise to a variety of flower shapes, colors, and sizes. Certain flower traits are frequently correlated, and these correlations define what is commonly termed a "pollination syndrome". For example, white flowers that open at night and have long tubes are generally indicative of hawkmoth pollination. Transitions in pollination syndromes are widely believed to contribute to plant speciation, including the origin and radiation of the flowering plants. The goal of this research is to study such transitions by focusing on the species-rich genus Ruellia. With approximately 300 species, Ruellia is the second largest genus in the tropical family Acanthaceae (ca. 4,000 species). Based on preliminary evolutionary analyses (E. Tripp, unpub. data), closely related species often display a variety of pollination syndromes, indicating that pollinators have likely had a large role in the overall speciation of Ruellia. Though Mexico is a hotspot for Ruellia diversity, current taxonomic sampling and field collections of Mexican Ruellia species is poor. This proposal describes how a plant collecting expedition through southern portions of Mexico, coupled with museum-based work out of national and international herbaria, will permit a full exploration of species relationships and the evolution of pollination syndromes in Ruellia. Methods include molecular sequencing, standard genealogical analyses, plant identification and morphological analyses, field collections and herbarium curation, and the construction of local and/or regional floristic treatments.Because pollination transitions contribute to plant diversification, studying such transitions as well as relationships among Ruellia species can lend insight into processes involved in plant speciation, and thus to the generation of biodiversity. Knowledge of biodiversity is of paramount importance to everyone, particularly knowledge of tropical taxa where critical habitat is disappearing at unprecedented rates. Further, botanical collections have been fundamental to all biological investigations and remain essential today, especially in tropical regions where much diversity has yet to be documented. It has been shown that collections data can be useful in conservation decision-making1,2. This work will benefit the conservation infrastructure in Mexico and promote international scientific collaboration between US and Mexican institutions, botanists, and students. To ensure our success in understanding the history and future of biodiversity, it is imperative that the upcoming generation of biologists continue to be trained in traditional field biology and museum/herbarium curation, as well as modern molecular methods.