Caroline Brose - "Evolutionary consequences of adaptive introgression and polyploidy; Salix as a system for understanding generation and maintenance of species diversity"
"I am honored to have received funding from the Biodiversity Research Enhancement Grant to further my dissertation research studying mechanisms that affect the creation and maintenance of species diversity. Support from the Biodiversity Institute will allow me to produce whole genome sequences for my willow samples from Arctic Alaska. I use Arctic and alpine willows as a system for studying the effects of introgression and polyploidy in plants. By funding my project, the Biodiversity Institute is supporting research of plant evolution in the Arctic and alpine tundra, which are some of the most affected by climate change."
Caroline Brose
2025 Recipient of the Biodiversity Institute Graduate Student Excellence Grant
Department of Botany
Department of Ecology and Evolution
Graduate Advisor: David Tank
Background:
Understanding the patterns and processes that underly the creation and maintenance of species diversity is one of the most important questions in evolutionary biology. Knowledge of these patterns and processes are necessary for predicting evolutionary and ecological consequences of changes in species’ distribution and local extirpation. In plants, hybridization, subsequent introgression, and polyploidy are essential processes that can aid in either the creation or breakdown of species boundaries. Arctic and alpine willows (Salix sp.) are known for frequent natural hybridization and polyploidy, making them an excellent system for studying the effects of these processes on species diversity. Using a combination of genomic, morphological, and environmental data from populations of sympatric Salix species across their ranges, it is possible to identify the roles that hybridization and polyploidy play in the maintenance or breakdown of species boundaries in taxonomically complex groups.
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