http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/58366 Mon, 20 May 2013 21:25:36 GMT 2013-05-20T21:25:36Z http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu:80/bitstream/id/212792/eeb-web-banner.gif http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/58366 http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/94302 Plant DNA Barcodes, Taxonomic Management and Species Discovery in Tropical Forests Dick, Christopher W.; Webb, Campbell O. DNA barcodes have great potential for species identification and taxonomic discovery in tropical forests. This use of DNA barcodes requires a reference DNA library of known taxa with which to match DNA from unidentified specimens. At an even more basic level, it presupposes that the species in the regional species pool have Latin binomials. This is not the case in species-rich tropical forests in which many species are new to science or members of poorly circumscribed species complexes. This chapter describes a work- flow geared toward taxonomic discovery, which includes the discovery of new species, distribution records, and hybrid forms, and to management of taxonomic entities in forest inventory plots. It outlines the roles of laboratory technicians, field workers and herbarium-based taxonomists, and concludes with a discussion of potential multilocus nuclear DNA approaches for identifying species in recently evolved clades. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/94302 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/92471 Anonymous and EST-based microsatellite DNA markers that transfer broadly across the fig genus (Ficus, Moraceae) Heer, Katrin; Machado, Carlos A.; Himler, Anna G.; Herre, E. Allen; Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.; Dick, Christopher W. • Premise of the study: We developed a set of microsatellite markers for broad utility across the species-rich pantropical tree genus Ficus (fig trees). The markers were developed to study population structure, hybridization, and gene flow in neotropical species. • Methods and Results: We developed seven novel primer sets from expressed sequence tag (EST) libraries of F. citrifolia and F. popenoei (subgen. Urostigma sect. Americana) and optimized five previously developed anonymous loci for cross-species amplification. The markers were successfully tested on four species from the basal subgenus Pharmacosycea sect. Pharmaco- sycea (F. insipida, F. maxima, F. tonduzii, and F. yoponensis) and seven species of the derived subgenus Urostigma (F. citrifolia, F. colubrinae, F. costaricana, F. nymphaeifolia, F. obtusifolia, F. pertusa, and F. popenoei). The 12 markers amplified consis- tently and displayed polymorphism in all the species. • Conclusions: This set of microsatellite markers is transferable across the phylogenetic breadth of Ficus, and should therefore be useful for studies of population structure and gene flow in approximately 750 fig species worldwide. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/92471 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/92470 Trait evolution and the coexistence of a species swarm in the tropical forest understory Sedio, Brian E.; Wright, S. Joseph; Dick, Christopher W. 1. A small number of species rich plant genera make a substantial contribution to the alpha diversity of tropical forests. These ‘species swarms’ (Gentry 1982) challenge a view of community assembly that maintains that niche overlap, and hence, the likelihood of competitive exclusion should increase with phylogenetic affinity. Related species may, however, occupy different microhabitats within a forest stand or, alternatively, differ ecologically in ways that allow them to coexist syntopically. 2. To explore the relationship between phylogenetic history and niche differentiation among sympatric, congeneric species, we performed phylogenetic analyses of microhabitat preferences, photosynthetic and hydraulic traits, and experimental responses to light and water availability for 20 species of Psychotria (Rubiaceae) from Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. 3. The Psychotria present in small (3-m radius), circular plots were more closely related than expected by chance. Photosynthetic and hydraulic traits were both associated with species habitat distributions, but only hydraulic traits were conserved phylogenetically. Experimental responses to water availability were also conserved phylogenetically. Functional trait analyses revealed little or no evidence of niche partitioning within sites. 4. We conclude that Psychotria species’ responses to both light and moisture availability determine their microhabitat distributions on BCI and that evolutionarily conserved hydraulic traits lead to phylogenetic clustering of co-occurring species. 5. Synthesis. The evolutionary conservation of hydraulic traits related to soil moisture tolerance largely explains phylogenetic clustering in the local assembly of the hyperdiverse genus Psychotria. We suggest that close relatives are unlikely to exclude one another from shared habitats because resource availability is determined largely by asymmetric competition with the overstorey, rather than by competition with neighbouring understorey plants. In light of the recent biogeographic admixture in central Panama, the phylogenetic niche conservatism exhibited by Psychotria on BCI raises the possibility of an association between local microhabitats and the ancestral climatic regimes under which major Psychotria lineages evolved before arriving in sympatry. Part of PhD Dissertation of Brian Sedio. The paper also incorporates J. Wright's long term ecological data on Psychotria from BCI. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/92470 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/91980 Conus prey distribution and population diet data Duda, Thomas F., Jr. Information on the geographic distribution of potential prey of Conus and actual diets of local populations of widespread Conus species are to be presented. Tue, 10 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/91980 2012-07-10T00:00:00Z