Abstract Detail



Plant life in Neotropical rocky outcrops

Liu, Sukuan [1], Smith, Stacey [2].

Phylogeny and Biogeography of South American Marsh Pitcher Plant Genus Heliamphora (Sarraceniaceae) Endemic to the Guiana Highlands.

Heliamphora is a genus of carnivorous pitcher plants endemic to the Guiana Highlands with fragmented distributions. We presented a well resolved, time-calibrated, and nearly comprehensive Heliamphora phylogeny estimated using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood based on nuclear genes (26S, ITS, and PHYC) and secondary calibration. We used stochastic mapping to infer ancestral states of morphological characters and ecological traits. Our ancestral state estimations revealed that the pitcher drainage structures characteristic of the genus transformed from a hole to a slit in single clade, while other features (scape pubescence and hammock-like growth) have been gained and lost multiple times. Habitat was similarly labile in Heliamphora, with multiple transitions from the ancestral highland habitats into the lowlands. Using Mantel test, we found closely related species tend to be geographically closely distributed. Placing our phylogeny in a historical context, major clades likely emerged through both vicariance and dispersal during Miocene with more recent diversification driven by vertical displacement during the Pleistocene glacial-interglacial thermal oscillations. Despite the dynamic climatic history experienced by Heliamphora, the temperature changes brought by global warming pose a significant threat, particularly for those species at the highest elevations.  


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1 - University Of Colorado Boulder, Ecology And Evolutionary Biology, 1800 Colorado Ave., Boulder, CO, 80303, United States
2 - University Of Colorado Boulder, EBIO, Campus Box 334, Boulder, CO, 80309, United States

Keywords:
Sarraceniaceae
Heliamphora
Carnivorous Plants
Pantepui
Guiana Highlands
Neotropics.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: COL08, Plant life in Neotropical rocky outcrops
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Friday, July 31st, 2020
Time: 11:30 AM
Number: COL08005
Abstract ID:81
Candidate for Awards:George R. Cooley Award


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