DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolutionary Trends Within the Polemoniaceae (Ericales)

夹竹桃科（Polemoniaceae）是适应辐射的典型例子，生物学家长期以来一直在不同领域进行研究，假设传粉者在其物种的形成中发挥了关键作用。然而，这一假设尚未得到验证。这项研究探讨了福禄考家族的进化，福禄考家族是一组在美国发现的大多数物种的植物，从生态和遗传的角度来测试这一假设。 这项研究将有利于科学和社会发展的识别关键，这将使公众，特别是本地植物组织的成员，以确定，因此有一个更深层次的欣赏福禄考的生物多样性。 这些数据也将使环保人士作出明智的，具有成本效益的决定，因为他们寻求保护濒危和受威胁的物种在两个国家和联邦一级，特别是在加州，内华达州，明尼苏达州和威斯康星州。物种之间的界限也不清楚，也许是网状进化的结果。该项目将产生一个近物种水平的Polemoniaceae的系统发育，也将使用形态测量技术来产生性状数据。 这项研究将是第一个采样所有物种，并利用多个核基因座来确定物种关系。这些数据将测试的假设，花的形式已被选定的传粉者和形态测量数据将决定叶的形式的演变。 从自然历史博物馆收集的数据将用于调查Polemonium的地理历史。 使用这些数据集的比较系统发育方法提供了一个独特的机会，重建福禄考进化过程中的不同时期的祖先的字符状态。八棱花湖泊在其出现的两个州都濒临灭绝，但尚未被联邦政府列为濒危物种。 下一代测序方法将用于确定其分类地位和种群结构，以保护这种罕见的分类群。

The Polemoniaceae, the phlox family, is a textbook example of an adaptive radiation and has long been studied by biologists from diverse fields under the assumption that pollinators have played a key role in the formation of its species. However, this, hypothesis remains untested. This research explores evolution in the phlox family, a group of plants with most species found in the United States to test this this hypotheses from ecological and genetic perspectives. This research will benefit science and society by developing identification keys which will allow the public, especially members of native plant organizations, to identify and therefore have a deeper appreciation for the biological diversity of phlox. These data will also allow conservationists to make informed, cost-effective decisions as they seek to preserve endangered and threatened species at both the State and Federal level, especially in California, Nevada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.Polemonium has been the subject of multiple molecular phylogenetic studies yet the relationships among its species remain undetermined. Species boundaries between species are also unclear, perhaps as a result of reticulate evolution. This project will generate a near species-level phylogeny of the Polemoniaceae and will also use morphometric techniques to generate trait data. This study will be the first to sample all species and utilize multiple nuclear loci to determine species relationships. These data will test the hypothesis that floral form has been selected for by pollinators and the morphometric data will determine the evolution of leaf form. Collection data from natural history museums will be used to investigate the biogeographic history of Polemonium. The use of comparative phylogenetic methods with these data sets provides a unique opportunity to reconstruct the ancestral character states at various time periods during phlox evolution. Polemonium occidentale ssp. lacustre is endangered in both states in which it occurs, but is not yet Federally listed as endangered. Next-generation sequencing approaches will be used to determine its taxonomic status and population structure to inform conservation of this rare taxon.