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Abstract Detail



Tropical Biology

Betancourt, Austin [1], Simmons, Tracey [2], Carter, Benjamin [2], Misiewicz, Tracy [4].

Species delimitation of the tropical tree Protium subserratum using morphometric methods.

The lowland Amazon rainforest is a biodiversity hotspot with more tree species per unit area than any other forest on earth. In spite of this diversity, few studies address questions about speciation and natural selection in the tropics. The Amazon tree Protium subserratum, is an ideal system to study how natural selection in different habitats can lead to the formation of new species. P. subserratum is a common, tropical tree and it’s range extends across the entire lowland Amazon basin. In the Western Amazon it is known to have distinct populations adapted to different soil types. Populations found on clay, brown sand and white-sand soils in Peru exhibit morphological and genetic variation that corresponds with habitat type and are thought to represent recently formed species. Yet variation in morphology across the entire range remains unquantified. It is unclear how many undescribed species may actually exist under the current classification of P. subserratum. Leaf morphology data will be collected from over 300 specimens of P. subserratum from across its range. These data will be analyzed using normal mixture models (NMM), a novel method for species delimitation based on morphology which, unlike traditionally used statistical methods, does not require an apriori hypothesis of species assignments. NMM models will be tested on the full data set as well as a subset of measurements taken from trees found in the Western Amazon with corresponding genetic data. This work will inform our knowledge of speciation and taxonomic classification in Amazon trees.


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1 - San Jose State University, Dept. Of Biological Sciences, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA, 95112, USA
2 - San Jose State University, Dept. Of Biological Sciences, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA, 95192, United States
3 - San Jose State University, Dept. Of Biological Sciences, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA, 95192, United States
4 - University of Oklahoma, Microbial and Plant Biology, 770 Van Vleet Oval, Rm #208, Norman, OK, 73019, United States

Keywords:
Amazon
morphology
genomics
tropical trees.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Tropical Biology Posters
Location: Arizona Ballroom/Starr Pass
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2019
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PTB003
Abstract ID:468
Candidate for Awards:None


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