Abstract Detail

Systematics Section

Ortiz, Rosa [1], Fuentes-Soriano , Sara [1], Jacques, Frédéric, M.B. [2].

Evaluating the phylogenetic signal and mode of evolution of continuous traits in Menispermaceae (Ranunculales): an example using endocarp size.

With about 520 species, the Menispermaceae is considered a medium-size family among Ranunculales. The moonseed-shaped endocarps that characterize many of the genera in the family are easily recognized, are very diverse, and have therefore historically played an important role in the classification of extant as well as in the identification of fossil taxa in Menispermaceae. Recent studies using DNA sequence data have greatly improved our understanding of the relationships within the Menispermaceae, and several morphological traits, treated as discrete characters, have been evaluated and their ancestral state hypothesized. Here we present preliminary results of the ancestral endocarp size estimation in Menispermaceae, with size treated as a continuous character. Measurements of endocarp length and width, a phylogeny of 77 taxa for a combined analysis of three chloroplast markers, and available divergence time estimates for the family and major clades were analyzed using a Bayesian approach. The evolutionary dynamics of endocarp size within the Menispermaceae was evaluated by calculating levels of phylogenetic signal of endocarp size. The best-fitting models of evolution and tests for directional evolutionary change were evaluated prior to ancestral endocarp size estimations.

Broader Impacts:

1 - Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO, 63166, USA
2 - Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology , CAS Department of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008 Jiangsu, PR China

Keywords:
Ranunculales
Menispermaceae
Continuous traits
Endocarps.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Khorassan Ballroom/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Monday, July 11th, 2011
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PSY011
Abstract ID:411