Diversification of megadiverse genera in the Neotropical Region: systematics and e...
| Grant number: | 12/12325-9 |
| Support type: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |
| Effective date (Start): | September 01, 2012 |
| Effective date (End): | July 31, 2015 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Botany |
| Principal Investigator: | José Rubens Pirani |
| Grantee: | Caetano Troncoso Oliveira |
| Home Institution: | Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
Abstract Mikania Willd. comprises ca. 450 species, it is the largest genus of Eupatorieae and one of the greatest of Asteraceae. It has a pantropical distribution, but its richness is concentrated in South America. Because of its size, taxonomic revisions are difficult to be performed. Infrageneric classifications have been proposed since the nineteenth century, mainly based on species habits, leaf shape and arrangement of the heads. Although there are few doubts about the monophyly of the genus, phylogenetic studies have never been performed to evaluate whether suggested infrageneric taxa are monophyletic. This project aims to analyze the existing main sectional studies, through phylogenetic analysis based on molecular and morphological data, assessing the evolution of characters used to define sections and proposing hypotheses about the evolutionary history of the group. It is expected that the definition of natural groups within Mikania enables advances in knowledge about the evolutionary history of the genus and can serve as a basis for research on the diversity of it. (AU) | |