Evolution and Diversification in Apiaceae subfamily Azorelloideae

该项目将重点关注在南美洲常见的胡萝卜家族中密切相关的一组植物。 尽管对这个群体进行了几个世纪的研究，但其成员之间的关系仍然难以理解。这些问题反映在物种之间的大规模混淆和更大的物种群体的识别上。 初步数据表明，这些问题部分源于沿着安第斯山脉的多重平行演变，以及南美洲和澳大利亚/新西兰之间的交流，可能是通过南极地区。 解决这些问题将有助于深入了解安第斯山脉植物的起源和进化，以及塑造其多样化的环境力量。 研究人员提出了一项多学科的研究，包括深入的实地研究，从遗传和形态来源收集数据，专题修订，以及分析物种之间的关系。该研究的协作，多学科和综合设计为这项研究对更广泛的社区的影响提供了许多机会。 该项目涉及从高中到本科和研究生的几个层次的学生，他们将与一个国际研究人员团队一起沿着工作，该团队具有野外生物学，植物标本研究，解剖学，形态学和遗传数据等专业。 每一次培训机会还旨在成为项目参与者之间的“专门知识交流”，使各级参与者既担任教师，又担任不同技能组合的学生。 此外，这种综合的、多学科的方法将作为研究其他主要植物群体的模型，这些植物群体存在许多进化问题，以及在安第斯山脉和南半球进化的其他生物群体。

The project will focus on a closely related group of plants in the carrot family that are commonly found in South America. Despite centuries of research in this group, relationships among its members have remained inscrutable. These problems are reflected in wide-scale confusion among species and identification of larger groups of species. Preliminary data suggests that these problems stem in part from multiple, parallel evolution along the Andes mountain range, and from exchanges between South America and Australia/New Zealand, probably through the sub-Antarctic region. Solving these problems will provide insights into the origin and evolution of the plants in the Andes and the environmental forces that have shaped their diversification. The researchers propose a multi-disciplinary study that involves intensive field studies, collection of data from both genetic and morphological sources, monographic revisions, and analysis of how the species are related to each other. The collaborative, multi-disciplinary, and integrative design of the study provides many opportunities for impacts of this research to the broader community. The project involves students across several levels from high school to undergraduate and graduate students that will work along with an international team of researchers who have specialties in field biology, herbarium studies, anatomy, morphology, and genetic data. Each training opportunity is also designed to be an "exchange of expertise" among the project participants, allowing participants at all levels to serve as both teachers and students of different skill sets. Furthermore, this integrative, multi-disciplinary approach will serve as a model for the study of other major groups of plants where many evolutionary problems persist, as well as for other groups of organisms that evolved in the Andes and the Southern Hemisphere.