Evolution of Senecio and Lobelia in the East African        Mountains
{'Code': '08010207', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'DEB', 'LongName': 'Division Of Environmental Biology'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'James E. Rodman', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
The mountains of East Africa provide a unique opportunity to            study the mode and tempo of evolutionary events.  The mountains                 are sufficiently numerous, tall and isolated that, given the                    altitudinal zonation of vegetation, they form a stratified system               of habitat-islands which is amenable to mathematical analysis and               the formulation of testable predictions concerning the adaptive                 radiation of plants.  The giant senecios (Senecio ser. Arborei)                 and the giant lobelias (Lobelia sect. Rhynchopetalum) have                      undergone sufficient geographic and altitudinal radiation                       (resulting in much endemism and convergent evolution) to allow                  assessment and comparison of their evolutionary responses to the                physical characteristics of the mountain system.  These plants                  also display several unusual morphological features associated                  with the giant-rosette life-form, namely (1) daily opening and                  closing of the massive terminal leaf-rosettes, (2) retention of                 an insulating jacket of old, dead leaves, (3) greatly enlarged                  pith volume which provides an internal reservoir of water, and                  (4) secretion of polysaccharides that affect the freezing                       characteristics of water impounded by the leaf-rosettes and the                 hollow inflorescences of Lobelia.                                                       The purpose of research by Dr. Palmer and Mr. Knox is to                reconstruct the evolutionary histories of these two groups.                     Phylogenetic hypotheses based on restriction-site variation in                  chloroplast and nuclear ribosomal DNA will be used to test the                  predictions derived from mathematical analysis of the mountain                  system and to interpret the patterns in adaptive morphology.                    This research will provide insight into the frequency of                        geographic versus altitudinal radiation, the relative importance                of migration versus long-distance dispersal, the extent of                      evolutionary convergence, the rate of evolutionary divergence,                  and several points of particular taxonomic interest.  If the                    pattern of geographic radiation for Senecio or Lobelia                          corresponds to the sequence of volcanic mountain formation, then                the established geochronology may provide an independent line of                evidence for evaluating the operation of a molecular clock.
[{'FirstName': 'Eric', 'LastName': 'Knox', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'B', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Eric B Knox', 'EmailAddress': 'eknox@indiana.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000611766', 'StartDate': '05/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Co-Principal Investigator'}, {'FirstName': 'Jeffrey', 'LastName': 'Palmer', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'D', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Jeffrey D Palmer', 'EmailAddress': 'jpalmer@bio.indiana.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000234434', 'StartDate': '05/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}]
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{'Code': '1127', 'Text': 'Evolutionary Processes'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8800487.xml'}