Studies on flower morphology and anatomy in the highly polymorphic genus Clusia (Clusiaceae s.str.)

• Grant number: 11/15687-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: January 16, 2012
• End date: July 19, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Morphology
• Principal Investigator: Maria do Carmo Estanislau do Amaral
• Grantee: Maria do Carmo Estanislau do Amaral
• Host Investigator: Peter Karl Endress
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland

Abstract

The large neotropical genus Clusia (Malpighiales, Clusiaceae s.str., tribe Clusieae) is noteworthy for its high infrageneric and sometimes infraspecific diversity in various aspects. This diversity is especially remarkable in the flower morphology and related to this, the pollination biology. A considerable number of species offers the uncommon floral reward resin to pollinating bees and such species often show unusual androecial structures including athecal anthers of various types. Androecial diversity forms the basis of a formal generic subdivision into numerous taxonomic sections. Some of these were shown to form monophyletic groups in recent molecular phylogenetic studies, but interesting cases of parallel evolution were also indicated. The present proposal aims at initiating comparative studies of the flower morphology and anatomy of Clusia species from different sections and comparatively of species from other genera of tribe Clusieae. Floral anatomical data will in future be used to reanalyze the molecular phylogenies trying to discover morpho-anatomical synapomorphies and to confirm or disconfirm clades weakly supported by the molecular data. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

AMARAL, MARIA DO CARMO E.; BITTRICH, VOLKER; ENDRESS, PETER K.; STEVENS, PETER F.. The unique morphology of resin-producing multilocellate anthers and their evolution in Clusia (Clusiaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 184, n. 1, p. 79-93, MAY 1 2017. (11/15687-6, 12/51781-0)