CAREER: Polyploid phylogenetics and ploidy-aware taxonomy of Cystopteridaceae: Research and education from the field to museum collections

多倍体物种拥有两套以上完整染色体的物种在生命之树中很常见，尤其是在植物中。这些多倍体通常也是杂种，它们的不同染色体组来自不同的亲本物种。这种“异源多倍体”是全球生物多样性的一个非常重要的组成部分，但其长期进化的研究（植物遗传学领域）一直受到限制，因为异源多倍体具有网状而不是树状的进化历史，因此系统发育分析的标准工具不适用。这项研究将开发系统发育工具的异源多倍体的研究，并证明这些工具的有效性，了解复杂的模式的生物多样性和过程中产生的广泛的蕨类植物家族，Cystopteridaceae。在与这项研究相结合，该项目将利用实地和收集为基础的经验的力量，提供变革性的教育机会，每年一批土著学生转移到犹他州州立大学（USU）洛根从USU布兰丁（一个为期两年的机构），包括相关布兰丁四角植物标本馆的创建。这些教育活动有可能改变USU洛根校区土著转学生的教育经历，并由此延伸，对美国土著学生在STEM领域的代表性产生持久影响。本科生和研究生的指导研究经验的机会将与该项目的研究活动相结合，并将提供山间植物标本馆探险计划，这将产生重要的生物多样性数据，并为公众提供实地植物学经验，同时将他们与当地环境联系起来。该项目将开发一个系统发育树模型，该模型包含谱系出生，死亡和多倍体化的过程，这将允许对多倍体的网状进化历史进行生物学上的推断，并测试与多倍体多样化相关的假设。一个密集采样的多倍体物种网络的蕨类植物Cystopteridaceae将推断从一个多位点的数据集约1500加入，这将提供第一个主要的，集中的经验检验的“死胡同”的假设多倍体宏观进化。最后，一个在线的修订专著展示“倍数意识”的修订系统和动态在线电子专著的潜力将提供一个重要的资源，为广大公众的成员。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Polyploid species—species with more than the two complete sets of chromosomes—are common across the tree of life, especially in plants. These polyploids are often also hybrids, with their different chromosome sets coming from different parent species. Such “allopolyploids” are a tremendously important component of global biodiversity, but study of their long-term evolution (the field of phylogenetics) has been limited because allopolyploids have a web-like rather than tree-like evolutionary history and thus standard tools for phylogenetic analysis do not apply. This research will develop phylogenetic tools for the study of allopolyploids and demonstrate the effectiveness of these tools for understanding complex patterns of biodiversity and the processes that generated them in the widespread fern family, Cystopteridaceae. In conjunction with this research, the project will leverage the power of field- and collections-based experiences to provide transformative educational opportunities for an annual cohort of Indigenous students transferring to Utah State University (USU) Logan from USU Blanding (a two-year institution), including the creation of an associated Blanding Four Corners Herbarium. These educational activities have the potential to transform the educational experience of Indigenous transfer students at the USU Logan campus, and by extension, to make a lasting impact on the representation of Native American students in STEM fields. Opportunities for mentored research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students will be integrated with the project’s research activities, and an Intermountain Herbarium Foray Program will be offered, which will generate important biodiversity data and provide field botany experiences to the public while connecting them with the local environment. This project will develop a phylogenetic tree model that incorporates the processes of lineage birth, death, and polyploidization, which will allow for the biologically-informed inference of the reticulate evolutionary history of polyploids and testing of hypotheses related to polyploid diversification. A densely sampled polyploid species network for the fern family Cystopteridaceae will be inferred from a multi-locus dataset of approximately 1500 accessions, which will provide the first major, focused empirical test of the “dead-end” hypothesis of polyploid macroevolution. Finally, an online revisionary monograph showcasing “ploidy-aware” revisionary systematics and the potential of dynamic online e-monography will provide a critical resource for members of the broader public.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.