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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