Inselect: Automating the Digitization of Natural History Collections

Copyright: © 2015 Hudson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Resolving the Evolutionary History of Campanula (Campanulaceae) in Western North America

Recent phylogenetic works have begun to address long-standing questions regarding the systematics of Campanula (Campanulaceae). Yet, aspects of the evolutionary history, particularly in northwestern North America, remain unresolved. Thus, our primary goal in this study was to infer the phylogenetic positions of northwestern Campanula species within the greater Campanuloideae tree. We combined new sequence data from 5 markers (atpB, rbcL, matK, and trnL-F regions of the chloroplast and the nuclear ITS) representing 12 species of Campanula with previously published datasets for worldwide campanuloids, allowing us to include approximately 75% of North American Campanuleae in a phylogenetic analysis of the Campanuloideae. Because all but one of North American Campanula species are nested within a single campanuloid subclade (the Rapunculus clade), we conducted a separate set of analyses focused specifically on this group. Our findings show that i) the campanuloids have colonized North America at least 6 times, 4 of which led to radiations, ii) all but one North American campanuloid are nested within the Rapunculus clade, iii) in northwestern North America, a C. piperi – C. lasiocarpa ancestor gave rise to a monophyletic Cordilleran clade that is sister to a clade containing C. rotundifolia, iv) within the Cordilleran clade, C. parryi var. parryi and C. parryi var. idahoensis exhibit a deep, species-level genetic divergence, and v) C. rotundifolia is genetically diverse across its range and polyphyletic. Potential causes of diversification and endemism in northwestern North America are discussed

Systematics of the Asian Sonerileae (Melastomataceae)

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Evolutionary informatics: unifying knowledge about the diversity of life

The accelerating growth of data and knowledge in evolutionary biology is indisputable. Despite this rapid progress, information remains scattered, poorly documented and in formats that impede discovery and integration. A grand challenge is the creation of a linked system of all evolutionary data, information and knowledge organized around Darwin's ever-growing Tree of Life. Such a system, accommodating topological disagreement where necessary, would consolidate taxon names, phenotypic and geographical distributional data across clades, and serve as an integrated community resource. The field of evolutionary informatics, reviewed here for the first time, has matured into a robust discipline that is developing the conceptual, infrastructure and community frameworks for meeting this grand challenge

Paleo-climates and past introgression explain the spatio-temporal distribution of genetic structure in Triodanis perfoliata

The dynamic nature of intrinsic (e.g., reproductive system, hybridization) and extrinsic factors (e.g., physical barriers to gene flow) across space and time generate complex biological processes that influence contemporary patterns of genetic diversity, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary studies. Using the widespread, mixed-mating annual Triodanis perfoliata, previous work demonstrated the important roles of breeding system, isolation by distance, and isolation by resistance in shaping patterns of population genetic diversity. Here we significantly build on this first step by incorporating paleoclimatic data, historical admixture, and estimating species divergence times across 18 populations of T. perfoliata spanning the contiguous US. This current study provides novel insights into factors driving patterns of intraspecific diversification that were not explained using only contemporary climate models. Specifically, these new analyses highlight the early Holocene (11.7 - 8.326 ka) and the Marine Isotope Stage M2 (ca. 3.3 Ma), as important time periods for explaining patterns of contemporary population genetic diversity, the latter of which appears to be an important time period for intraspecific divergence of T. perfoliata. In addition, we explored the influence of historical intrinsic factors, via admixture to explain patterns of population isolation and connectivity. The inclusion of an admixture analysis provided clarity through evidence of historical gene flow between populations that would have experienced suitable habitat connectivity in past climates. Our study illustrates the importance of incorporating historic, as well as contemporary data, into phylogeographic studies to generate a comprehensive understanding of patterns of population diversity, and the processes important in driving these patterns