Download Indo-Pacific Palms as a Model Group

2017_73: Unravelling Tropical Rainforest Evolution:
Indo-Pacific Palms as a Model Group
Supervisors: Dr William J. Baker ([email protected]), Dr Wolf Eiserhardt (Royal
Botanical Gardens, Kew) and Professor Vincent Savolainen (Life Sciences)
Department: Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew
Tropical rainforests are the most diverse terrestrial ecosystems on earth, housing
>50% of the world’s species in 7% of the total land surface area. Despite their
importance to climate, the water cycle and other ecosystem services, rainforests are
being destroyed at an unprecedented rate, diminishing our ability to answer
fundamental scientific questions about it. What species occur there? Where, when and
how did rainforests evolve? Why are rainforests so diverse?
Recently, Baker and colleagues have established palms as a model group for
rainforest research (Couvreur & Baker 2013. BMC Biology 11: 48) and have used
basic biodiversity data from palms (e.g. species composition, distributions,
phylogenetic relationships) to infer global rainforest history and diversification
processes (e.g. Couvreur et al. 2011. BMC Biology 9: 44). We now plan to drill down
further into these questions by initiating comparative studies of the three largest
tropical islands, Borneo, New Guinea and Madagascar, which are similar in size and
megadiversity, but very different geologically and environmentally. They sustain rich,
endemic palm floras of similar species richness (ca. 200-300 species each), but
contrasting phylogenetic structure and trait composition. Islands are ideal "natural
laboratories" for studying processes underpinning biodiversity patterns. In a novel,
comparative approach, we will use the palm floras of the three islands to differentiate
general, global processes from regional drivers of rainforest diversity.
In this project, we will focus on Borneo and New Guinea as microcosms of palm
evolutionary history in the SE Asian Archipelago (complementing current studies in
Madagascar). The main activities of the project will include:
1) Collecting extensive DNA sequence data (plastid genomes, 100s of nuclear genes)
using the latest high-throughput sequencing methods.
2) Inferring a species-level phylogeny of SE Asian palms from these phylogenomic
data.
For more information on how to apply visit us at www.imperial.ac.uk/changingplanet
Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet
3) Conducting comparative analyses of biogeographic and diversification history
across the three islands.
4) Exploring intrinsic (e.g. traits, lineage history) and extrinsic (e.g. climate, edaphic
factors, biological interactions) factors determining contrasts in patterns of diversity
and phylogenetic structure in palms across islands and clades.
A primary focus of the project will be the rattans, a remarkable group of climbing palms
that account for large proportions of the palm floras of Borneo and New Guinea.
Moreover, they provide raw materials for a $5bn cane furniture industry. Despite their
extraordinary diversity, the rattans have been neglected phylogenetically. A wellresolved phylogeny of the rattans is required for understanding the evolution of SE
Asian palms and, by extension, the rainforests of the region.
The student will be hosted at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of the world’s
leading botanical research centres (http://www.kew.org/science-conservation), with
access to Kew’s outstanding collections (e.g. herbarium, DNA/tissue bank, living
specimens and expertise in palm biology phylogenomics. The student and will also
spend 20-30% of his/her time at Imperial College's international centre of excellence
in ecology and evolution (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/visit/campuses/silwood-park/),
under its Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment Initiative
(http://www.imperial.ac.uk/ecosystems-and-environment/). This project builds on
long-standing collaborations in palm evolutionary research between Kew and Imperial
College (e.g. Savolainen et al. 2006 Nature 441: 210).
For more information on how to apply visit us at www.imperial.ac.uk/changingplanet