DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Austral origins and Pacific radiations: Tracing transitions in the biogeography, morphology, and ecology of the Asteliaceae (Asparagales)

生活在岛屿上的植物必须有办法从一个地方到另一个地方。 该项目的重点是一组生活在太平洋岛屿上的开花植物，属于紫菀科。 DNA序列将被用来确定紫菀科的近亲生活在哪里，这将确定这些植物在到达它们的岛屿栖息地之前来自哪里。 从这项研究中，将有可能确定植物在水中扩散的次数，以及长距离扩散的方向。 将对植物结构进行调查，以确定任何可能有助于植物在海洋上长距离移动的结构，并将研究生态特征，以确定哪些结构可能允许植物在到达目的地后存活。 这项研究将扩大我们对太平洋和南半球植物进化历史的理解，并将阐明这些地区长距离传播的模式。远距离传播清楚地决定了哪些植物可能到达特定的岛屿。同样重要的是，要测试被认为有助于这种传播的植物特征是否真的与植物从一个岛屿到另一个岛屿的移动有关。这项研究使用基于DNA的证据来测试紫菀科中的这种相关性。这是确定影响该区域内扩散成功的特征的重要的第一步，并导致更好地了解大陆和岛屿生物群的起源和多样化模式。

Plants that live on islands must have ways to get from one place to the other. This project focuses on a group of flowering plants that live on islands in the Pacific Ocean, members of the family Asteliaceae. DNA sequences will be used to determine where the closest relatives of the Asteliaceae live, which will identify where the plants came from before arriving in their island habitats. From this study, it will be possible to determine the number of times the plants have dispersed over water, as well as the directions of long-distance dispersal. Plant structures will be investigated to identify any that might have helped the plants to move long distances over the ocean, and ecological traits will be studied to determine which ones may have permitted the plants to survive once they had arrived at their destination. This research will expand our understanding of the evolutionary history of plants of the Pacific and of the Southern Hemisphere, and will illuminate patterns of long-distance dispersal in these regions. Long-distance dispersal clearly determines which plants might arrive on a particular island. It is also important to test whether the plant characteristics thought to help such dispersal really correlate with the movement of the plants from one island to the next. This research uses DNA-based evidence to test such correlations in the Asteliaceae. This represents a significant first step in identifying the traits that have influenced dispersal success within the region and leads to a greater understanding of the origins and diversification patterns of both continental and island biota.