Abstract Detail

Recent Topics Posters

Yost, Jenn [1], Bontrager, Megan [1], McCabe, Stephen  [2], Kay, Kathleen [1], Ritter, Matt [3].

A Classification of California's Diploid Dudleya Species Based on Molecular Phylogenetic Data.

There are 45 recognized species of Dudleya, which occur in southwestern North America, including eight rare species, one threatened species, and two Federally endangered species.Taxonomic classification of Dudleya has proven difficult due to indistinguishable morphology, polyploidy, and hybridization within the genus. We sought to understand the evolutionary relationships between species of Dudleya by first building a molecular phylogeny of 30 diploid Californian species (45 taxa in total). We used nucleotide sequence data from the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer(ITS), the external transcribed spacer (ETS), and the trn region of the chloroplast (trnL-F)from all obtainable diploid Dudleyain California. Our results indicate that the current subgenera distinctions within the genus are polyphyletic and that the Federally endangered Santa Clara live forever D. setchellii is distinct from the D. abramsii clade, in which it was recently subsumed. We further elucidate the relationships within the subspecies of the D. virens clade and show that D.virens ssp. extima is likely evolutionarily independent from the D.virens clade and may require taxonomic reclassification. This study has important conservation implications because of the rarity and locally endemic nature of the taxa involved.

Broader Impacts:

1 - University of California, Santa Cruz, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA
2 - UCSC Arboretum, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA
3 - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Biological Science, San Luis Obispo, Ca, 93407, USA

Keywords:
Dudleya
Phylogeny
California.

Presentation Type: Recent Topics Poster
Session: P
Location: Khorassan Ballroom/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Monday, July 11th, 2011
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PRT025
Abstract ID:1091