Next SolSeminar will be presented by Tiina Särkinen on What can large plant genera teach us about evolution & ecology? Monographing the larger genus Solanum
Abstract. Big genera provide us a great opportunity to explore patterns and processes behind evolutionary success. Tackling the taxonomy and phylogeny of big genera remains, however, challenging due to the sheer size of these monsters. I will focus on Solanum, one of the biggest plant genera, and present what we are learning about evolution, ecology and diversity patterns in the process of studying the natural history of the genus. Providing “maps” of morphology, taxonomy, and phylogenetics has been my own research priority in Solanum to orientate experts and non-experts alike. One of my passions is data quality and I will explore the importance of taxonomic verification when working in diverse groups like Solanum. Recent work in my lab has involved (1) exploring phylogenomic discordance in Solanum, (2) providing an updated, densely sampled species-level phylogeny for testing evolutionary hypotheses, (3) mapping morphological diversity across the genus, and (4) using the phylogenetic and morphological data to explore diversity patterns in the tropics. Whether the patterns found in Solanum reflect general patterns observed in other plant groups and/or big genera will be interesting.
When? Friday Jan 21st 4 pm (GMT+1)
The zoom link to join the meeting is https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/94333146166 Meeting ID: 943 3314 6166, password: Solanaceae
Watch this talk here: https://youtu.be/xTHTkYx_KfE
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