Collaborative Research: Disentangling biological and environmental drivers of diversification in the Andean flora

合作研究：解开安第斯植物区系多样化的生物和环境驱动因素

• 批准号: 2055525
• 负责人: Laura Lagomarsino
• 金额: $ 70.97万
• 依托单位: Louisiana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055525&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Disentangling; biological; environmental; Collaborative; Research; Disentangling; biological; environmental

The tropical Andes of South America is one of the world’s richest biodiversity hotspots. This diversity likely evolved due to the complex environmental and geological history of this region. However, exactly how plant diversity arose from the combination of mountain uplift, the development of new habitats, and species interactions is unclear. This research aims to understand how these factors led to plant diversity in cloud forests and high-elevation grasslands. The researchers will develop new software to compare plant genomes to understand the ancestry of four groups of flowering plants in the Andes. The project will also result in new mathematical models to test the importance of different factors in shaping diversity in these plant groups. These new methods will have broad application to studies of biodiversity in the Andes and beyond. Additionally, this project aims to train the next generation of scientists in the study of biodiversity through a variety of interrelated activities, including: (1) a course for undergraduates to do guided genomic research; (2) collaborative training for students; and (3) computational training for diverse students.The project will first establish well-supported phylogenetic hypotheses for each of the four focal clades of Andean plants using low-coverage and targeted genome sequence data. Samples will be collected from Colombia as well as museums. This work highlights the importance of natural history collections in cutting-edge biological research, and new fieldwork will add to those collections. A component of the research will be to develop new approaches to address complexities common in plant genomes, including polyploidy and paralogy, that can affect estimates of evolutionary relationships. These methods will be made available through open-source software such that other researchers can easily estimate phylogenies and examine support for phylogenetic hypotheses using sequence data. Second, the project will develop new models that jointly infer the roles of dispersal and trait evolution in species diversification. These methods will be applied to phylogenomic, morphological, and distribution data collected for this project. These methods will also be made publicly available for widespread use. Finally, by comparing the roles of biogeographic and ecological processes in generating diversity in these clades, the research will address the generality or idiosyncrasy of the processes facilitating rapid radiation in tropical Andean plants.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.

南美的热带安第斯山脉是世界上最富有的生物多样性热点之一。由于该地区的环境和地质历史复杂，这种多样性可能会演变。但是，确切地说，植物多样性是如何源于山隆，新栖息地的发展和物种相互作用的结合。这项研究旨在了解这些因素如何导致云森林和高海拔草原的植物多样性。研究人员将开发新软件，以比较植物基因组，以了解安第斯山脉中四组开花植物的血统。该项目还将导致新的数学模型，以测试不同因素在塑造这些植物群体多样性方面的重要性。这些新方法将在安第斯山脉及其他地区的生物多样性研究中广泛应用。此外，该项目旨在通过各种相互关联的活动在生物多样性研究中培训下一代科学，包括：（1）本科生进行指导性基因组研究的课程； （2）针对学生的合作培训； （3）对潜水员学生的计算培训。该项目将使用低覆盖和靶向基因组序列数据为安第斯工厂的四个焦点中的每个焦点中的每个焦点中的每个焦点建立良好的系统发育假设。样品将从哥伦比亚和博物馆收集。这项工作凸显了自然史收集在尖端生物学研究中的重要性，而新的野外工作将增加这些收藏。该研究的一个组成部分是开发新的方法来解决植物基因组中常见的复杂性，包括多倍体和催化性，这些方法可能影响进化关系的估计。这些方法将通过开源软件提供，以便其他研究人员可以使用序列数据轻松估计系统发育并检查对系统发育假设的支持。其次，他们将开发新的模型，共同推断出分散和特质演化在物种多样化中的作用。这些方法将应用于该项目收集的系统基因组，形态和分布数据。这些方法也将公开用于宽度使用。最后，通过比较生物地理和生态过程在这些进化枝中产生多样性中的作用，该研究将解决促进热带安第斯工厂快速辐射的过程的一般性或特质。这奖反映了NSF的法规使命，并认为通过基金会的智力优点和广泛的影响，通过评估来诚实地对其进行评估。