Project Details
Projekt
Elevational replacement, higher tropical mountain passes and isolated sky islands: untangling neutral and adaptive processes driving radiation of Andean Apocynaceae
Subject Area
Evolution and Systematics of Plants and Fungi
Term
since 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447013721
Mountain systems are biodiversity hotspots. In South America, several Andean mountain floras are among the most diverse, evolutionary most active and species-richest worldwide. We will study adaptive and neutral processes in the evolution of species diversity in tropical mountain systems in South America using the species in the Orthosiinae clade of the Apocynaceae (dogbane family). To reveal the relative contributions of both processes in Orthosiinae diversification, we (1) estimate the number of species using morphological studies and coalescence-based genomic approaches. To do so, we analyze target-enriched genomic data (Hyb-Seq) and study plant specimens harbored in museums and herbaria around the world. Time-calibrated species trees are used to (2) estimate frequency and magnitude of shifts in flower size and structure, as well as the rates of flower size evolution among lineages and their association to species diversification rates. Spatial analyses of species occurrences and climatic niche modelling is used to (3) identify the frequency of allopatric speciation events, species phylogeography and ecological preferences, and the elevational pattern of species replacement (current and historical). Integrating our genomic, phenotypic, spatial and ecologic data, we (4) estimate tempo and mode of neutral and adaptive processes driving radiation in Andean Orthosiinae. This will contribute to our understanding of interactions among drivers of species diversification. Within the SPP "Taxon-Omics" our comprehensive goal is to establish a pipeline for the updating of species and metadata in digital herbaria. Accessible data linked to an observation (specimen), available and reusable, in turn, provide the base for historical, current and future assessment of plant biodiversity and its evolutionary dynamics in the American Andes. Operational and structural synergies in the competence network of this priority program provide the pivotal environment for this study and the education of next-generation taxonomists.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
International Connection
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, USA
