Abstract Detail

Macroevolution

Tribble, Carrie [1], Jackson-Gain, Abigail C.  [2], Specht, Chelsea [3], Rothfels, Carl [4].

Characterizing the evolution of underground morphology and climatic niche in the order Liliales.

Recent advances in phylogenetic comparative methods, as well as the blossoming availability of genetic, phenotypic, and collections-based data, allow us to apply rigorous statistical tests of adaptive hypotheses to large, varied datasets. Liliales contains roughly 1,500 species of herbaceous angiosperms with a wide variety of underground storage organs, including root tubers, rhizomes, corms, and bulbs. These organs have been hypothesized to allow the plants to survive periods of adverse climatic conditions such as cold winters or summer droughts. However, to date, no study has empirically tested this hypothesis in a comparative framework. Here, we examine the relationship between the evolution of underground storage organs and climatic niche. We first generate a species-level phylogeny for Liliales using a supermatrix approach applied to Genbank data. We subsequently characterize the species’ underground storage organs and model their climatic niches using collections-based occurrence records, published floras, and checklists. We subsequently test for a correlations between specific underground storage organ morphologies and relevant climatic variables—such as seasonal variation in precipitation—using phylogenetic ANOVA. We additionally test for shifts in diversification rates associated with changes in storage organ morphology and estimate the ancestral underground morphology of Liliales. This study demonstrates the value of well-curated data repositories for large-scale comparative analyses and the importance of documenting methods through reproducible workflows. We further call for more research into underground morphology, and advocate for increased collection, investigation, and documentation of underground morphologies, an often-neglected element in botanical sciences.

1 - University Of California, Berkeley, Rothfels Lab, UC Jepson Herbarium, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States
2 - University of California, Berkeley, Rothfels Lab, UC Jepson Herbarium, 1001 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
3 - Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
4 - University Of California Berkeley, University Herbarium And Departmenty Of Integrative Biology, 1001 Valley Life Science Building, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States

Keywords:
Liliales
Macroevolution
Climatic niche
morphology
Geophytes.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 18, Macroevolution I
Location: 105/Mayo Civic Center
Date: Tuesday, July 24th, 2018
Time: 10:15 AM
Number: 18007
Abstract ID:308
Candidate for Awards:None