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Research in the Specht lab is centered on the processes and patterns involved in the evolution and diversification of plants, especially the monocots. We use a phylogenetic framework to test hypotheses of morphological evolution and to analyze temporal and spatial patterns of plant speciation. The use of systematics in comparative biology is emphasized. Areas of focus are on the evolution of development, comparative genomics and the genetics of interspecies interactions. At any given time, various projects in the lab have openings for undergraduate research. Please follow the link to see what projects are available and to learn more about research in our lab... Undergraduate Research Apprentice Projects----------------------- Plant Systematics Plant systematic projects ongoing in the lab:
----------------------- Floral Development Due to the natural diversity of floral forms, the Zingiberales provide an ideal model system to test the role of candidate floral development genes in the formation of diverse morphologies found in these plants. We are looking at the role of identified genes important in floral development of Arabidopsis in the development of novel floral structures (such as the labellum) within Zingiberales. Techniques include in situ hybridization to analyze gene expression patterns during defined stages of early and late stage floral development, and Virus Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) to create effective gene knock-downs.
Floral Diagram of Costus scaber (Costaceae, Zingiberales). ----------------------- Plant Evolution Species Diversity and Key Innovations: The Effect of Pollination Syndromes on Rates of Speciation and Diversification in Monocots The role of pollination syndromes as key innovations in plant speciation and diversification is a subject of much interest and controversy. Increasing amounts of genomic data are available for not only determining relationships among organisms, but also investigating the time frame in which these organisms have evolved. As sophisticated molecular-clock algorithms are used to accurately estimate ages of organismal speciation and diversification, robust statistical techniques have been developed to estimate absolute rates of diversification for independent lineages. Diversification rates are then compared with physical, physiological, or ecological attributes of organisms to investigate the role of any particular acquired characteristic (key innovation) on subsequent rates of speciation. Studies of key innovations within the monocot family Costaceae indicate that specialized relationships with animal pollinators have led to increased rates of diversification (i.e. rapid radiations) in the two bird-pollinated lineages (Specht, in press). Research in the lab expands upon this work with Costaceae to include all Monocot lineages, where elaborate pollination systems involving birds, insects and mammals have evolved multiple times. The Monocots comprise a major component of both tropical and temperate ecosystems and include agriculturally (e.g. grasses) and horticulturally (e.g. orchids) important plants, making them an ideal model system for this type of analysis. We are currently analyzing rates of speciation with information on pollinator specificity to test hypotheses concerning the influence of pollinator-specific associations on diversification across major lineages at multiple ecological and temporal scales. The results of this research will help to determine the effect of pollination-specific floral structure and pollinator specificity on species diversification rates in both temperate and tropical environments. Such information is crucial to understanding the role of pollination and the effect of pollinator specificity on biological diversification and species radiations in all plants. ----------------------- Biogeography and Phylogeography Phylogeography and Species Conservation The lab is interested in biogeographic studies at the population-level, using molecular data to investigate distributional patterns within species and species complexes. Such studies can be combined with analyses of range reductions and genetic diversity among populations in order to provide information for informed conservation planning at the species level and to study the origins of crop plants to help direct genomic research of crop development.
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| RESEARCH
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| Floral Development
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| Plant Evolution
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| Biogeography and Phylogeography |