Systematics of Monotropoideae and Pyroloideae (Ericaceae)

这个奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。这个项目研究了蓝莓家族中两组极不寻常的成员，包括一些没有叶子的物种。目标包括如何区分物种，以及确定每一组中的物种之间以及与家族其他成员之间的关系。一名教员和他的学生将分析从实地收集的标本中获得的形态和DNA序列数据，以建立进化树，并从中得出结论。还将开发一个基于网络的模块，教授物种分析技能。这些植物大多原产于美国，200多年来一直不确定。这项工作将产生定义明确的小组，其名称任何人，包括保护专业人员，都可以使用。对进化关系的研究将揭示在这一群体中发生了多少次植物中罕见的落叶。它还将把无叶植物牢固地作为进一步进化研究的模型，这一点很重要，因为这些植物与真菌有着特殊的关系。研究生和本科生将接受这项工作的所有方面的培训，物种分析教学模块将广泛使用。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This project examines two groups of highly unusual members of the blueberry family, including some species without leaves. Goals include how to tell the species apart, and determining how the species in each group are related to each other and to the rest of the family. A faculty member and his students will analyze morphological and DNA sequence data from field-collected specimens to build evolutionary trees from which conclusions will be drawn. A web-based module that teaches species analysis skills will also be developed.The classification of these plants, most native to the USA, has been uncertain for over 200 years. This work will yield well-defined groups with names that anyone, including conservation professionals, can use. The study of evolutionary relationships will reveal how many times loss of leaves, uncommon among plants, has happened in this group. It will also place the leafless group solidly as a model for further evolutionary studies, which is important because of the special relationship that these plants have with fungi. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in all aspects of the work and the species analysis teaching module will be available for broad use.