Do unrelated plants growing in the same region look similar due to climate adaptation?

植物是全球气候平衡的关键因素，它们吸收二氧化碳和释放氧气，它们稳定土壤和拦截降雨，减少侵蚀，它们产生当地小气候，并可以减缓沙漠的蔓延。然而，与气候适应相关的植物物种的物理和生化特征的分析目前在范围上相当有限。这类研究的重点一般是农作物或整个生态系统，如草原或森林。本博士学位将在物种水平上研究三个远亲植物群的物理、生化和遗传特征，以寻找与气候适应有关的共同模式。研究中的植物谱系主要出现在地中海气候区，但这些谱系的成员已经扩展到该气候区以外。这些谱系在特征上的共同变化将有助于理解气候对物种的限制。你在这个项目中的投入将是测试和评估尽可能广泛的人物，以确定气候的明显或隐晦的影响。在两年的课程中，学生将与雷丁大学和皇家园艺学会的专家一起工作，为大约200个研究物种建立广泛的特征数据库集，这些数据集将根据分子系统学和气候包络模型进行解释。申请者将有机会研究草本植物中保存的植物，栽培植物，并可能研究一些物种的领域。您将有机会与国际公认的专家小组在雷丁的系统发育和园艺分类学在RHS卫斯理。数据将使用形态计量学和系统发育方法进行分析，以解释与当地气候适应有关的系统发育的物理特征。

Plants are a key factor in the global climate balance, they absorb CO2 and emit oxygen, they stabilize soils and intercept rainfall, reducing erosion, they generate local microclimates and can slow the spread of deserts. However, analysis of the physical and biochemical traits of plant species in relation to climate adaptation is currently quite limited in scope. The focus of such research is generally on crops or whole ecosystems, such as grassland or forest. This PhD will study physical, biochemical and genetic features in three distantly related plant groups at the species-level to search for common patterns in relation to climate adaptation. The plant lineages under study occur predominantly in the Mediterranean climatic region but members of these lineages have spread beyond this climate zone. Common changes in features among these lineages will help understand the constraints on species imposed by climate. Your input into the project will be to test and evaluate as wide a range of characters as possible for the obvious or cryptic influence of climatic. Over the course of two years, working alongside the experts at University of Reading and the Royal Horticultural Society, the student will build up extensive datasets of features for the approximately 200 study species and these will be interpreted in the light of molecular phylogenies and climate envelope models. The applicant will have the opportunity to study preserved plants in herbaria, cultivated plants, and possibly some species in the field. You will have the opportunity to interact with internationally recognised expert groups in phylogenetics at Reading and horticultural taxonomy at the RHS Wisley. Data will be analysed using morphometric and phylogenetic approaches to interpret physical traits across phylogenies in relation to local climate adaptations.