Evolution of growth and life forms in Piperales
- Combining biomechanical and anatomical approaches with molecular phylogenies -
TU University, Dresde, Germany & UMR AMAP, Montpellier, France
DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) Funded project
The diversity of live and growth form within Piperales is symptomatic for the success of this taxa in many ecosystems. Despite the importance of plant life and growth forms for ecosystem complexity and biodiversity, few studies have evaluated their evolutionary occurrence and patterns across major groups of angiosperms. This project aims at analyzing life and growth form evolution in the order Piperales, which represents the largest clade of basal angiosperms. This project will combines (i) anatomical, biomechanical and architectural methods with (ii) recent molecular phylogenetic approaches to study form traits and their evolution. Using a variety of phylogenetic methods, we aim to observe how forms and their associated characteristics are distributed across taxa in the Piperales.
Evolution of growth form within Aristolochiaceae
In this sub-project we are interested in the evolution of growth forms within Aristolochiaceae and particularly in the evolution of treelets/shrubs within a family dominated by herbaceous and climbing forms. Self-supporting woody growth forms (treelets and shrubs) occur in two taxa within Aristolochiaceae, in the genus Thottea and in Aristolochia subgenus Isotrema (in central America).
