Abstract Detail

Systematics Section/ASPT

Specht, Chelsea [1], Iles, William J.D. [1], Sass, Chodon [1], Benson-Martin, Gracie [1], Ng, Molly [1], Kress, John [2], Gupta, Shalika [1], Driscoll, Heather [3].

Evolution of Heliconia: Temporal and Spatial Diversification at the Species Level.

The family Heliconiaceae (heliconias) comprises approximately 200 species in the single genus Heliconia L., distributed primarily in the neotropics. While heliconias are grown as tropical ornamentals throughout the world, their native range extends from central Mexico to central South America including the Caribbean, with a clade of six species native to Indonesia, New Guinea and several South Pacific islands. Despite their importance as cultivated plants, there have been no well-supported hypotheses on phylogenetic relationships among species of Heliconia, primarily due to convergences in flower and inflorescence traits that are specific to hummingbird pollination and to overall similarities of vegetative structures. Here, we present a resolved phylogeny for the genus obtained by the development of hybridization-based Next Generation Sequencing methods to obtain low copy nuclear markers and rapidly evolving chloroplast genes useful for species-level phylogenetics. We use this phylogeny to discuss analyses of spatial diversification and trait evolution within the lineage.

1 - University of California at Berkeley, Plant and Microbial Biology, Integrative Biology, 431 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
2 - Smithsonian Institution, Botany, MRC-166 National Museum Of Natural History, PO Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA
3 - Norwich University, Department Of Bilogy, 158 Harmon Drive, Northfield, VT, 05663, USA

Keywords:
Zingiberales
targeted enrichment
Heliconia
molecular phylogeny
Trait evolution
biogeography.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 50
Location: Salon 10/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2015
Time: 5:00 PM
Number: 50014
Abstract ID:792
Candidate for Awards:None