Phylogeny, biogeography, and diversification in Pedicularis (Orobanchaceae)

山区物种的不成比例的丰富是全球生物多样性的一个惊人而神秘的模式。 这个项目将揭示最大的开花植物属之一的演化历史，即在北方半球的山脉中发现的770个物种，但在中国的横断山脉，俄罗斯的阿尔泰-天山和喜马拉雅山脉中特别丰富。 将利用DNA序列重建全球物种样本的系统发育关系。 这个“家谱”将被用作一个历史框架，用额外的数据来检验关于进化和地理学的假设。 例如，苔藓的花朵表现出惊人的多样性，但只能由大黄蜂授粉。 共生的苔藓类植物之间对传粉者服务的竞争是否会导致花型的进化分化并加速祖先物种分裂成不同的后代？ 其他问题则与地理起源有关，例如：横断地区是有利于新物种形成的进化“摇篮”，还是容纳其他地区移民的“博物馆”？ 最后，利用系统发育树构建出一个地钱属的自然分类，其分类学名称反映了具有共同祖先的谱系。该项目将重建生命之树上一个巨大的、引人注目的、神秘的有花植物分支，并揭示中新世以来形成北方植物物种多样性和分布的历史模式和进化过程。 了解这些进化动力学对保护规划至关重要，例如，把未来的气候变化放在历史的背景下。 苔藓生长的山区特别容易受到气候变化的影响，因此必须记录这些物种及其进化遗产。 这项研究还将揭示花的形态和功能的进化，及其对植物物种共存和繁殖的克里思和模式的贡献。

The disproportionate abundance of species in mountains is a striking and mysterious pattern in global biodiversity. This project will unravel the evolutionary history of one of the largest genera of flowering plants, the louseworts, whose 770 species are found in mountain ranges across the Northern Hemisphere, but are especially rich in the Hengduan Mountains of China, the Altai-Tienshan of Russia, and the Himalayas. Phylogenetic relationships of a global sample of species will be reconstructed using DNA sequences. This "family tree" will then be used as an historical framework to test hypotheses about evolution and biogeography using additional data. For example, louseworts exhibit spectacular diversity in their flowers, but are pollinated only by bumblebees. Does competition between co-occurring louseworts for pollinator services cause evolutionary divergence in flower form and accelerate the splitting of ancestral species into distinct descendants? Other questions pertain to geographic origins, such as: is the Hengduan region an evolutionary "cradle" that favors new species formation, or is it a "museum" that harbors immigrants from other regions? Finally, the phylogenetic tree will be used to construct a natural classification for the lousewort genus, with taxonomic names reflecting lineages with common ancestry.This project will reconstruct a large, conspicuous, and enigmatic branch of flowering plants on the tree of life, and reveal historical patterns and evolutionary processes that have shaped the diversity and distributions of plant species across the Northern Hemisphere since the Miocene. Understanding these evolutionary dynamics is critical to conservation planning, e.g., to put future climate change in an historical context. The mountains where louseworts occur are particularly vulnerable to climate change, raising the imperative to document these species and their evolutionary heritage. The research will also shed light on the evolution of floral form and function, and its contribution to the tempo and mode by which plant species coexist and proliferate.