June 2003 - April 2004 Akiko Soejima Research Associate College of Integrated Arts and Sciences Osaka Prefecture University Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan Research Interests: I am interested in plant systematics and biogeography, especially about the speciation in oceanic islands and geographic disjunctive distributed plant groups. Speciation through polyploidization is also my concern. Current Research: Diversity in the Asteraceae is especially rich within the Andes of South America and many genera are restricted to specific high-elevation habitats. My research subject is "Molecular Systematics of Paranephelius (Liabeae-Asteraceae)", which is a case study in high-elevational speciation and character evolution. Paranephelius is composed of acaulescent herbs with showy, yellow capitula, sessile in the center of a basal rosette of leaves, often with bullate leaf surfaces. There are about seven species distributed from Peru through Bolivia and into northwestern Argentina. This genus represents an interesting example of specific radiation throughout a range of high-elevations habitats over a large latitudinal range. However, the greatest diversity is to be found in northern Peru, where no fewer than four species recorded to be sympatric. From an ongoing floristic inventory, distribution patterns of the species are well known, and morphological cladistis analysis has been completed. Now, I hope to add molecular systematics component to the current investigation in an attempt to develop a robust phylogeny for defining species relationships, testing biogeographic hypotheses, and examining character evolution in this genus. Page of interest: http://www.sacha.org/Peru_Asteraceae/Paranephelius_(web).htm
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