DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Systematics and Biogeography of the tribe Vanilleae (Orchidaceae), and a monograph of the genus Epistephium

兰花科可能是开花植物中最大的科，每年都有几十个新物种被描述，大多数来自热带。这项研究将有助于更好地了解兰科植物的重点是鲜为人知的新热带属，Epistephium。 研究人员将首先重建属内的系统发育关系，然后使用由此产生的系统发育进行物种水平的系统修订。一名研究生和几名本科生将接受系统的修正研究和分子遗传学的培训。国际研究基础设施将通过与厄瓜多尔和巴西研究人员的合作得到加强。该研究还提供了一个新的见解香草亚科内的进化关系，其中包括经济上重要的属，香草。该项目旨在充分解决部落香草族的系统发育关系，其中包括大多数热带代表的香草亚科。研究人员将采用下一代测序方法收集部落中所有属的大量DNA序列数据，并促进重建高度支持的系统发育树。由此产生的系统发育假说将反过来允许更深入地分析部落的当前和历史地理分布（包括两个例子跨大西洋的分离和机会，研究岛屿地理在太平洋和东南亚）。然后将进行系统发育测试，以确定该群体如何获得目前的分布。最后，将制作一本关于该部落第二大属Epistephium的物种一级的专著。

The orchid family may be the largest family of flowering plants, with dozens of new species being described each year, mostly from the tropics. This research will contribute to be a better understanding of the orchid family by focusing on the poorly known neotropical genus, Epistephium. Researchers will first reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within the genus, and then use the resulting phylogeny to conduct a species-level systematic revision. One graduate student and several undergraduates will be trained in systematic revisionary studies and molecular phylogenetics. International research infrastructure will be enhanced through collaborations with researchers in Ecuador and Brazil. The research also offers to provide new insights into evolutionary relationships within the Vanilloideae subfamily, that contains the economically important genus, Vanilla.This project aims to fully resolve the phylogenetic relationships of the tribe Vanillieae, which encompasses most tropical representatives of the subfamily Vanilloideae. Researchers will employ next-generation sequencing approaches to collect large amounts of DNA sequence data from all genera in the tribe and facilitate reconstruction of a highly supported phylogenetic tree. The resulting phylogenetic hypothesis will in turn allow a deeper analysis of the current and historical biogeographic distribution of the tribe (involving two examples of trans-Atlantic disjunctions and the opportunity to study island biogeography in the Pacific and SE Asia). Phylogenetic tests for vicariance and long distance dispersal will then be conducted out to identify how the group attained its current distribution. Lastly, a species-level monograph of Epistephium, the second largest genus in the tribe, will be produced.