Smithsonian Botanical Symposium

W. John Kress
The complexity of nature: A coevolutionary mosaic of plants and animals in the Neotropics
The complexity of life on Earth is a product of the diversity of species multiplied by the diversity of their interactions. The quantification of species diversity, which requires both correct identification and resolved evolutionary patterns, is a prerequisite to accurately interpret their interactions. I will focus on one charismatic group of neotropical plants in the genus Heliconia and the ecology of the hummingbird pollinators with which they have coevolved. These ecological interactions between the plants and pollinators reveal their intricate patterns of evolutionary history and also how these species may respond to today’s rapidly changing planet.

W. John Kress is Distinguished Scientist and Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. He was Curator of Botany for over thirty years and formerly served as the Interim Under Secretary for Science at the Smithsonian and Director of Science in the Grand Challenges Consortia at the institution. He is currently Co-Chair of the Earth BioGenome Project, an international effort to generate complete genomes for all species of plants, animals, and fungi on the planet. Dr. Kress received his education at Harvard University (B.A., 1973) and Duke University (Ph.D., 1981), where he studied tropical biology, ethnobotany, evolution, and ecology. His taxonomic work is on the Zingiberales, a group of tropical plants that includes gingers, bananas, and heliconias. His current research is focused on biodiversity genomics, conservation, and the Anthropocene. As well as serving as Affiliate Faculty at George Mason University, he is Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College. Dr. Kress lives in Dorset, Vermont.

M. Alejandra Jaramillo
Piper evolution and ecology: A peppery tale from the understory
The genus Piper is one of the largest lineages of flowering plants. It is also a dominant element of the forest understory in the Neotropics (but also common and diverse in Asian tropics). Piper is also diverse locally. In a forest reserve like La Selva, you can find 40 different species. In a small circle plot of 10m diameter, you can encounter 25 plants and up to 7 species! Molecular phylogenetics has been instrumental in consolidating an infraspecific classification and as a frame to ask ecological questions with an evolutionary framework. Chemistry and the interconnection with herbivores are key for Piper species co-existence. As part of the spectrum, we cannot discard the role of plant growth forms and co-existing microorganisms. Species diversity is highest at mid-elevation (ca. 1000 m in elev.), and the Andes foothills seem crucial for the genus's extensive diversification. We try to avoid overwhelming ourselves with the large numbers of species in the genus. Still, new taxa pop up in the forest or the herbarium cabinet every time we dare to look closely. We are using the immense diversity of this genus to ask all types of questions about the tropical forest understory. I will tell you a few peppery stories to tickle your curiosity.

M. Alejandra Jaramillo is an Associate Professor of Applied Biology at Universidad Militar Nueva Granada. Dr. Jaramillo graduated as a biologist from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. She finished her Ph.D. at Duke University in 2001 and was later a postdoc at Harvard University. Dr. Jaramillo lived in Brazil and the USA before returning to Colombia, where she has been in her current position since 2015. Her work has focused on the phylogenetics of Piper. She has also worked on several aspects of tropical plant conservation and sustainability.

Gregory W. Stull
Plant migrations and the assembly of the Neotropical flora: insights from the Mesoamerican-eastern North American biogeographic disjunction pattern
The assembly of the present-day Neotropical flora has been greatly influenced by plant migrations into the region from different parts of the globe throughout the Cenozoic (66 to 0 mya). The highlands of Mesoamerica (including central and southern Mexico and Central America) harbor remarkable levels of plant diversity including an unusual mix of species with ‘tropical’ and ‘temperate’ ancestries. The latter includes numerous species showing a geographic disjunction between Mesoamerican (MAM) cloud forests and mesic temperate forests of eastern North America (ENA), separated by vast expanses of arid habitat across northern Mexico and the southwestern USA. These MAM-ENA disjuncts have been of interest for over 75 years, but there have been remarkably few recent studies attempting to document the number of species showing this disjunction pattern or the evolutionary and geologic history underlying its formation. In this talk, I will provide an overview of this poorly studied disjunction pattern. Recent work has revealed >100 examples of this disjunction pattern in seed plants alone, including both species with disjunct populations as well as sister species (or lineages) disjunct between these regions. The examples documented so far span the phylogenetic breadth of seed plants and represent the gamut of plant growth forms and life history strategies. Preliminary work also suggests that many cloud forest populations likely represent undescribed species, but the vast majority of these disjuncts have been entirely unstudied in the context of this biogeographic pattern. Overall, the MAM-ENA disjunction pattern represents an excellent system for studying how plant migrations between Mesoamerica and North America contributed to the historical assembly of diverse (and imperiled) forest ecosystems in these regions. More broadly, this disjunction pattern represents incredibly rich system for studying the evolutionary and ecological responses of American temperate forests to climate change over short (Pleistocene) and longer (Cenozoic) time scales. I will conclude by outlining promising avenues for future research on this biogeographic pattern that involve bolstering relationships among US, Mexican, and Central American botanists with the goal of tackling urgent problems in biodiversity science and conservation across the Americas.

Gregory W. Stull is a resident Research Associate in the Botany Department of the Smithsonian Institution. He received a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University (2010) and PhD from University of Florida (2016). After receiving his PhD, he conducted postdoctoral work at the University of Michigan (as a National Science Foundation fellow) and the Kunming Institute of Botany. His research examines extant and fossil biodiversity to better understand major themes in flowering plant evolution ranging from the origin of phenotypic novelties to the role of climate change in shaping plant distributions, diversification, and extinction.

Alejandra Vasco
Accelerating lineage discovery to document Neotropical fern diversity
The process of documenting and describing biodiversity often cannot keep up with the rate of habitat loss and the extinction of species. This is especially true in tropical regions of the world, where the number of undescribed and poorly known species is highest, and biodiversity is most severely threatened. This project aims to contribute to documentation of Earth’s plant diversity by studying the diversity of ferns in Colombia, one of the most species-rich countries on Earth. The proposed research is documenting Colombian fern diversity within a unified taxonomic and evolutionary context, primarily through four interrelated activities. First, we are addressing major gaps in our understanding of species distributions by conducting expeditions to understudied regions of Colombia and examining collections at major Colombian and US herbaria. Second, we are expanding resources for Pteridoportal, a Symbiota portal that serves as a publicly available, specimen-driven taxonomic resource for fern diversity research. Third, we are generating genomic resources for all species of ferns in Colombia, including a DNA and leaf-tissue bank for all collections, ploidy estimates, and target capture sequence data to conduct comprehensive phylogenomic analyses. Finally, we are integrating the data and resources generated through this work to detect and describe yet-overlooked diversity.

Alejandra Vasco is a Research Botanist at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. She received a PhD in Biology from The City University of New York and The New York Botanical Garden, and a BS in Biology from the Universidad de Antioquia, in her native Colombia. Vasco’s research focus is on the diversity and evolution of ferns. Together with colleagues Weston Testo and Michael Sundue, Vasco leads Ferns of Colombia, a project funded by the National Science Foundation to document and explore the high diversity of ferns in this country.

Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa
Documenting the flora of a diversity hotspot: Las Orquideas National Park, Colombia
Western Colombia is regarded as one of the most exciting frontiers for botanical exploration in the Neotropics because of its known levels of diversity and endemic species. In analyses of Neotropical diversity, the areas with the highest angiosperm biodiversity were specifically found in the Colombian Western Cordillera (Andes) and Chocó region. Unfortunately, floristic studies of these regions are insufficient and outdated. In general, multi-institutional explorations of the Colombian flora based on modern field and herbarium work have been rare for decades and Colombian species are conspicuously underrepresented in monographic and phylogenetic works. Las Orquídeas National Park, strategically located in western Colombia, comprise vegetation from both the Tropical Andes and adjacent Chocó. Its vascular plants were recently documented through the implementation of a holistic approach to field work that prioritized unexplored localities, encouraged specialized collecting, as well as balanced tree and non-tree sampling. As result, more than 2,000 species of vascular plants were identified, including numerous exciting new species. Also significant is the impact of the herbarium collections: those from the mega-diverse northern Andes and Chocó regions were doubled at NY, while the electronic vouchers of the Park increased in more than 600% at the Colombian virtual herbarium (COL).

Paola Pedraza-Peñalosa is a Research Associate at The New York Botanical Garden. Her main research interests are the taxonomy, evolution, and conservation of Ericaceae, a fascinating and biodiverse family that includes species of global and local economic importance such as blueberries, lingonberries, arándanos, and mortiños. She is mostly concerned with the systematics of the tribe Vaccinieae within the Neotropical region. Vaccinieae is an exciting group as it is the food source of many animals from hummingbirds to mammals, about 94% of the Neotropical species are endemic, and many species are endangered. For her studies, she combines molecular, anatomical, and morphological data. She also conducts collections-oriented research that seeks to contribute to both the conservation and botanical knowledge of the Tropical Andes, a hotspot with one of the highest levels of biodiversity and endemism in the world, but which faces accelerated habitat loss and remains poorly understood.

Flora of Guaramacal: An Island of Biodiversity in the Andes of Venezuela

Laurence J. Dorr¹, Santos M. Niño², and D. Canelón²

¹ Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. dorrl@si.edu

² Universidad Nacional Experimental de los Llanos (UNELLEZ), Investigador Asociado del Instituto Smithsonian. santosmiguelnino@gmail.com; canelonbarraezdaniela@gmail.com

The Flora of Guaramacal is a project of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, and the Experimental University of the Llanos (UNELLEZ) in Venezuela, which focuses on a portion of the Andes Mountains known as the Ramal de Guaramacal. The region is mostly protected by the "General Cruz Carrillo in Guaramacal" National Park and includes forest and páramo (1600-3150 m elevation). It is estimated that this small portion of the Andes of 21.5 km², has some 1,350 species of vascular plant, including some 58 described so far with material collected from this sector, of which 35 are estimated to be only known from Guaramacal (probably endemic). Recent studies of the flora report 34 families between Gymnosperms, Angiosperms (Chloranthales, Magnoliids) and Monocots and in only these groups it was possible to identify 382 species, with 23 endemic species. Detailed explorations suggest the presence of high endemism due to the isolated condition of these mountains.

The Threatened Flora and Vegetation of the Natural Monument Pico Codazzi, a Protected Area in the Hotspot Cordillera de La Costa, Venezuela

L. Fajardo¹, A. Fernández², R. Gonto², and D. Canelón¹

¹ Laboratorio de Biología de Organismos, Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas. Caracas. fajardo.laurie@gmail.com; canelonbarraezd@si.edu

² Herbario IVIC. Centro de Biofísica y Bioquímica, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas. Caracas. angelfern56@yahoo.com ; rgonto@gmail.com

Pico Codazzi National Monument (11850 ha) is a protected area in the Cordillera de la Costa biologically important because of its biodiversity and because it is an ecological corridor for the Cordillera's cloud forests and a connection between Henri Pittier and Macarao National Parks. It is located in the states of Aragua, La Guaira and Miranda, between 600 and 2430 m.a.s.l. This study includes the elaboration of a current map of vegetation formations based on satellite image interpretation, vegetation characterization by measuring and counting individuals/species with DBH ≥ 2.5 cm in plots of 0.1 ha for forested vegetation and in transects of 400 m2 in shrub and herbaceous vegetation, in addition to botanical collections and herbarium and literature reviews. Preliminary results indicate that the monument contains 10 vegetation types, more than 2000 vascular plant species (4500 have been estimated for the Cordillera de la Costa), of which 118 are endemic to Venezuela or the Cordillera, 35 are on red lists of threats, 21 are on CITES II, and 22 are protected by Venezuelan law. The monument is considered Critically Endangered because of the constant anthropic pressure on its ecosystems. The main threats are: the conversion of forests into farmland, roads or urbanization, illegal hunting, extraction of timber and non-timber products, illegal water withdrawals, tourism use, and forest fires.

Chloroplast Phylogenomics for Newly Assembled Agave Species

Elsa Peters Ruiz de Chavez^1,2,3, Logan Kistler³, Daniel I. Piñero Dalmau¹, Andrew M. Salywon⁴, and Marcela Sandoval-Velasco^1,3

¹ Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CDMX, México

² Licenciatura en Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos.

³ Anthropology Department, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C, USA

⁴ Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ, United States

Agaves are one of the most emblematic Mexican plants. They thrive in and dominate all ecosystems, and their importance resides not only in their great diversity and broad ecological interactions with pollinators but also in the multiple uses and applications humans have found for these plants. Consequently, Agaves have been in the spotlight of intensive research for many years. In order to study and understand the complex evolutionary history of this important genus, an ideally solved phylogeny is necessary. Although some attempts have been made using specific regions of the chloroplast and ITS nuclear regions, many phylogenetic relationships have been left undetermined due to a lack of data resolution, and no fully solved phylogeny has yet been established. During the last decade, the use of whole chloroplast genomes to solve phylogenetic relationships in complex genera has been well-established. In the case of Agave, where genomes are too large to use whole genome approaches, focusing on whole chloroplast genomes provides a possibility to aid in this problem. In this study, we generated genome-wide data for agave samples representing 90 different species. We present 90 de novo-assembled and circularized chloroplast genomes which we use to resolve Agave phylogenomic relationships.

2001    Linnaean Taxonomy in the 21st Century
2002    The Convention on Biological Diversity
2003    Botanical Frontiers in Southeast Asia
2004    Botanical Progress, Horticultural Innovations, and Cultural Changes
2005    The Future of Floras: New Frameworks, New Technologies, New Uses
2006    Island Archipelagos: Cauldrons of Evolution
2008    Partners in Evolution: Interactions, Adaptations, and Speciation
2009    Genes, Genomics and Genome Evolution in Plants
2010    Food for Thought: 21st Century Perspectives on Ethnobotany
2012    Transforming 21st Century Comparative Biology using Evolutionary Trees
2013    Avoiding Extinction: Contemporary Approaches to Conservation Science
2014    Location, Location, Location...New Advances in the Science of Biogeography
2015    Next Generation Pteridology: An International Conference on Lycophyte & Fern Research
2016    Bats, Bees, Birds, Butterflies and Bouquets: New Research in Pollination Biology
2017    Exploring the Natural World: Plants, People and Places
2018    Plants in the Past: Fossils and the Future
2019    What Darwin Couldn't Know: Modern Perspectives on Crop Plant Origins
2021    Plant Symbiosis: The Good, the Bad, and the Complicated
2022    Life on the Edge: Exceptional Plants in Exceptional Place