DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The latitudinal gradient in plant diversity: evidence from the sedges.

在地球上几乎每个生命带都发现了超过30万种植物，植物在这个星球上所有生物的生活中发挥着关键作用。然而，绝大多数植物物种只在地球的赤道带发现。这一现象，被称为纬度多样性梯度，是知之甚少，虽然最近的调查已经确定了几个关键的假设。在这个项目中，PI的将采用直接测试的主要预测从这些假设：物种多样化的速度不同，可预测的距离赤道。这一假设将使用一个非常多样化和生态重要的植物群进行测试：莎草。这项研究的结果将解决多样化，地理偶然性和生态适应之间的相互作用如何产生当前的植物多样性模式。这项研究有可能极大地改变社会对生物多样性进化的看法，其结论将大大促进对生物多样性产生过程的了解。这些结果将对所有研究生物多样性、进化生态学或任何方面的研究人员具有切实的科学价值。苔草生物学。PI还将在研究过程中促进整个公共社区的教学、培训和学习。

With more than 300,000 species found across almost every life zone on Earth, plants play a pivotal role in the lives of all organisms on this planet. However, the vast majority of plant species are only found in Earth's equatorial belt. This phenomenon, known as the latitudinal diversity gradient, is poorly understood although recent investigations have identified several key hypotheses. In this project, the PI's will employ direct tests of the main prediction from these hypotheses: that rates of species diversification differ predictably with distance from the equator. This hypothesis will be tested using an exceptionally diverse and ecologically significant group of plants: the sedges. The results of this research will address how interactions between diversification, geographic contingency, and ecological adaptation have generated current patterns of diversity in plants. This research has the potential to dramatically change the way that society thinks about the evolution of biodiversity, and the conclusions will substantially advance understanding of the processes that generate it. These results will have tangible scientific value to all researchers studying biodiversity, evolutionary ecology, or any aspect of sedge biology. The PI's will also promote teaching, training, and learning in the public community at large during the course of this research.