Taxon recruitment and evolution of the arctic flora - the synthesis

• Applicant: Dr. Matthias H. Hoffmann
• Subject Area: Evolution and Systematics of Plants and Fungi
• Term: from 2010 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 167692306

The Arctic is the endpoint of many climatic gradients and is presently occupied by about 2,200 vascular plant species. During the Tertiary forests covered most of the area. Glaciation started in the Middle Eocene but a significant expansion of the Greenland ice shield occurred only ~3.2 Myr ago, leading to the expansion of the treeless circumpolar arctic tundra. There is almost no unequivocal information available, from where the present arctic flora has been recruited and evolved, respectively. Aim of this project is to study the origin of the arctic plants and the taxon recruitment of the arctic flora and thus, the assembly of an entire ecosystem in a phylogenetic framework. For this purpose we propose to analyse with molecular phylogenetic methods 28 genera of vascular plants with a total of 479 arctic species that are important constituents of the arctic flora. Using the phylogenetic trees we want to infer the phylogenetic origin of the arctic species. Further, we intend to study biogeographical, ecological, morphological, and karyological traits of these species in comparison to their non-arctic sister species. It is estimated that at the end of the project for about 2/3 of the arctic species molecular phylogenetic will be available and have been explored for general patterns of the evolution of the arctic flora.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Martin Röser