Predictive Phylogeography of Neotropical vegetal species

• Grant number: 23/07262-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2023
• End date: July 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Isabel Aparecida da Silva Bonatelli
• Grantee: Sabrina Passos Pires
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas (ICAQF). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Diadema. Diadema , SP, Brazil

Abstract

One of the most explored questions in phylogeography involves understanding how climate and environmental changes have affected the distribution of species in the past. Several studies indicate that Pleistocene climate change had a major influence on the legacy of global biodiversity. However, more recent research has shown that even species that are phylogenetically very close can have different responses to the same environmental changes. The Neotropical region, for example, is a great object of study to investigate these patterns of biological variability, since recent studies have shown different responses of taxa in dry and humid environments during the Pleistocene. In order to investigate different scenarios of idiosyncrasies, comparative and predictive phylogeography have incorporated phenotypic and life history elements of organisms. Machine learning methods, for example, have been widely used in this field of study in order to identify species-specific elements and abiotic factors capable of predicting evolutionary histories. In this context, the present work aims to identify predictive variables of demographic changes in plant species from the Neotropical region during the Pleistocene. For this, chloroplastidial DNA data from different plant species will be used in phylogeographic approaches based on models and machine-learning techniques. In this way, the importance of species-specific attributes and characteristics of environments in demographic responses will be tested, contributing to filling gaps in knowledge of the biodiversity of the Neotropical region and to decision-making for conservation.