SG: Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Revision of Lobelia in the Mexican Transition Zone

墨西哥的五大山脉被称为墨西哥过渡区，这为研究仅限于一个山脉的密切相关物种的关系提供了独特的机会。这些山脉是一个过渡带，因为它们混合了来自美洲温带地区和热带的有机体。该项目的目标生物将是Lobelia属植物。墨西哥山区有90个物种，其中83个物种仅在那里发现。大多数种类有小的蓝色花朵，由昆虫授粉，但有6个物种有大的红花，是由蜂鸟授粉的。这两个物种都有独特的花卉特征，即花蜜刺状物，这是世界上其他地方找不到的。该项目将重建墨西哥Lobelias的进化关系，以调查它们彼此之间以及与北美和南美洲其他地区的物种之间的关系，并将有助于确定蜂鸟授粉和花蜜短刺是否多次独立进化。第一代和服务不足的研究生和本科生将接受分子技术和博物馆研究方面的培训。这项研究将加强墨西哥专家、学生和研究人员之间的国际合作，这些专家从野外工作中对该物种有深入的了解。宣传材料将被合作开发，并纳入永久的公共展示，并在路易斯安那州立大学每月博物馆活动之夜的一个摊位上展示。收集的标本和发现也将被纳入北亚利桑那大学教授的课程。从叶绿体基因组收集的分子数据和为密切相关的类群开发的核探测器将被用来建立一个全面的Lobelia植物属的系统发育框架，重点是墨西哥高度多样化和特有的谱系。这个框架将被用来回答关于生物地理学、传粉者转移和杂交的广泛的进化问题。还将制作一棵时间校准的树来测试墨西哥过渡区的特定生物地理假说，包括：1-宗族之间的地理障碍，2-山脉之间的长距离扩散，以及3-与授粉综合症或花蜜刺的存在有关的生物地理模式。这项合作和多名本科生合作完成的修订工作将包括公开提供的描述、图像、照片和墨西哥和中美洲所有Lobelia物种的互动网络检索表，所有这些都将作为当前和未来植物名录的资源。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The five major mountain ranges in Mexico called the Mexican Transition Zone provide a unique opportunity to study the relationships of closely related species that are restricted to a single range. These mountains are a transition zone because they have a mix of organisms from the temperate parts of the Americas as well as from the tropics. The target organism for the project will be the plant genus Lobelia. There are 90 species in the mountains of Mexico and, of those, 83 are found only there. Most of the species have small, blue flowers and are insect-pollinated, but six have large, red flowers that are hummingbird-pollinated. Both groups have species with a unique floral feature, a nectar spur, found nowhere else in the world. This project will reconstruct the evolutionary relationships of the Mexican Lobelias to investigate how they are related to each other and to species in other parts of North and South America and will help determine whether hummingbird pollination and nectar spurs have evolved independently multiple times. First generation and underserved graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in molecular techniques and museum studies. The research will strengthen international collaborations among a Mexican specialist with intimate knowledge of the species from field work, students, and researchers. Outreach materials will be developed collaboratively and incorporated into a permanent public display and showcased at a booth at Louisiana State University’s monthly Night at the Museum event. Specimens collected and discoveries made will also be incorporated into courses taught at Northern Arizona University.Molecular data gathered from chloroplast genomes and a nuclear probe set developed for a closely related group will be used to build a comprehensive phylogenetic framework for the plant genus Lobelia, focusing on the highly diverse and endemic lineages of Mexico. This framework will be used to answer broad evolutionary questions about biogeography, pollinator shifts, and hybridization. A time-calibrated tree will also be produced to test specific biogeographic hypotheses in the Mexican Transition Zone including: 1- geographic barriers between lineages, 2- long-distance dispersal between mountain ranges, and 3- biogeographic patterns associated with pollination syndrome or presence of nectar spurs. The revisionary work produced by this collaboration and multiple undergraduates will include publicly available descriptions, images, photos, and an interactive web key to all Lobelia species in Mexico and Central America, all of which will serve as a resource for current and future floristic inventories.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.