When:
Thursday, January 29, 2015
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM CT
Where: Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion, Abbott Auditorium, 2200 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Contact:
Susan Black
(847) 467-1118
Group: Graduate Program in Plant Biology and Conservation
Category: Academic
David Tank, PhD
Associate Professor and Director of Stillinger HerbariumDepartment of Biological Sciences
University of Idaho
Annual aneuploids and polyploid perennials: phylogeny and diversification of the paintbrushes and relatives (Castillejinae, Orobanchaceae)
Abstract:
In this talk I will introduce my work investigating the radiation of the paintbrushes (Castilleja, Orobanchaceae) and their relatives, with a particular focus on life history evolution, changes in chromosome number, and macroevolutionary patterns of diversification. I will start from a broad phylogenetic perspective of the clade, and work towards a couple of focused questions on particular species complexes. Along the way, I will introduce some new approaches to large-scale phylogenetic data collection that we are developing to make efficient use of advances in sequencing technologies and species tree estimation using multi-locus datasets. Ultimately, we are using this system to investigate the patterns and processes of speciation in young, species-rich groups where even delimiting species boundaries can be extremely challenging.