DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of frailejones (subtribe Espeletiinae, Asteraceae) of the tropical Andes of South America

北安第斯山脉的高海拔草原生态系统，被称为páramo，是世界上高海拔地区最多样化的生态系统，是了解物种如何产生和适应的理想系统。该项目的目的是了解páramos物种形成的机制，并探讨气候变化对物种地理分布的影响。这将利用分子技术和地理信息系统对páramos的140种向日葵（与向日葵有关的植物）的显著辐射进行研究，这将为研究这些现象提供一个潜在的模型系统。该项目的结果将有助于更好地理解快速物种形成过程以及在不同气候变化情景下可能产生的结果。这些知识将为南美洲páramos的保护和管理决策以及地方当局制定的政策提供信息。该项目将开发可应用于其他濒危栖息地和物种的工具和方法。将建立一个公共网站，还将提供一份物种名录的DVD。该项目将加强跨国合作，并将培训本国机构的本科生以及几名访问研究人员。

The high elevation grassland ecosystem of the Northern Andes, known as páramo, is the most diverse ecosystem of the high elevations of the world, and is an ideal system to understand how species arise and adapt. The goal of this project is to understand the mechanisms of speciation in the páramos and to explore the impacts of climate change on the geographic distribution of species. This will be accomplished using molecular techniques combined with geographic information systems for a dramatic radiation of 140 species of frailejones (plants related to sunflowers) of the páramos, which provide a potential model system for investigating these phenomena. Results from this project will enable a better understanding of rapid speciation processes as well as possible outcomes under different scenarios of climate change. This knowledge will inform conservation and management decisions for the South American páramos and policy development by local authorities. The project will develop tools and methodologies that can be applied in other endangered habitats and species. A public website will be developed and a key to species will also be available on DVD. The project will strengthen multinational collaborations and will train undergraduates at the home institution as well as several visiting researchers.