John Leslie Dowe

Phylogenetic relationships among arecoid palms (Arecaceae: Arecoideae)

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The Arecoideae is the largest and most diverse of the five subfamilies of palms (Arecaceae/Palmae), containing >50 % of the species in the family. Despite its importance, phylogenetic relationships among Arecoideae are poorly understood. Here the most densely sampled phylogenetic analysis of Arecoideae available to date is presented. The results are used to test the current classification of the subfamily and to identify priority areas for future research. METHODS DNA sequence data for the low-copy nuclear genes PRK and RPB2 were collected from 190 palm species, covering 103 (96 %) genera of Arecoideae. The data were analysed using the parsimony ratchet, maximum likelihood, and both likelihood and parsimony bootstrapping. KEY RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Despite the recovery of paralogues and pseudogenes in a small number of taxa, PRK and RPB2 were both highly informative, producing well-resolved phylogenetic trees with many nodes well supported by bootstrap analyses. Simultaneous analyses of the combined data sets provided additional resolution and support. Two areas of incongruence between PRK and RPB2 were strongly supported by the bootstrap relating to the placement of tribes Chamaedoreeae, Iriarteeae and Reinhardtieae; the causes of this incongruence remain uncertain. The current classification within Arecoideae was strongly supported by the present data. Of the 14 tribes and 14 sub-tribes in the classification, only five sub-tribes from tribe Areceae (Basseliniinae, Linospadicinae, Oncospermatinae, Rhopalostylidinae and Verschaffeltiinae) failed to receive support. Three major higher level clades were strongly supported: (1) the RRC clade (Roystoneeae, Reinhardtieae and Cocoseae), (2) the POS clade (Podococceae, Oranieae and Sclerospermeae) and (3) the core arecoid clade (Areceae, Euterpeae, Geonomateae, Leopoldinieae, Manicarieae and Pelagodoxeae). However, new data sources are required to elucidate ambiguities that remain in phylogenetic relationships among and within the major groups of Arecoideae, as well as within the Areceae, the largest tribe in the palm family.

Cyclone tolerance in new world arecaceae: biogeographic variation and abiotic natural selection.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Consistent abiotic factors can affect directional selection; cyclones are abiotic phenomena with near-discrete geographic limits. The current study investigates selective pressure of cyclones on plants at the species level, testing for possible natural selection. METHODS New World Arecaceae (palms) are used as a model system, as plants with monopodial, unbranched arborescent form are most directly affected by the selective pressure of wind load. Living specimens of known provenance grown at a common site were affected by the same cyclone. Data on percentage mortality were compiled and analysed in biogeographic and phylogenetic contexts. KEY RESULTS Palms of cyclone-prone provenance exhibited a much lower (one order of magnitude) range in cyclone tolerance, and significantly lower (P < 0.001) mean percentage mortality than collections from cyclone-free areas. Palms of cyclone-free provenance had much greater variation in tolerance, and significantly greater mean percentage mortality. A test for serial independence recovered no significant phylogenetic autocorrelation of percentage mortality. CONCLUSIONS Variation in cyclone tolerance in New World Arecaceae correlates with biogeography, and is not confounded with phylogeny. These results suggest natural selection of cyclone tolerance in cyclone-prone areas.

‘Such Superfluity of Genera’: Ferdinand Mueller’s Criticism of Generic Limits in Wendland and Drude’s ‘Palmae Australasicae’ of 1875

Through the loan of herbarium specimens and unpublished manuscript descriptions of new palm species, Ferdinand Mueller made a contribution toward ‘Palmae Australasicae’, the foundational taxonomic work on the palm family (Arecaceae/Palmae) in Australia, published by the German botanists Hermann Wendland and Oscar Drude in 1875. In ‘Palmae Australasicae’, Wendland and Drude established twelve new genera and described eight new species, thus, in a single publication, increasing about two-fold the taxonomic and nomenclatural scope of the palm family in Australasia. For Australia (including Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island), they enumerated a total of sixteen genera, twenty-six species and three subspecies. Mueller, however, was critical of the taxonomic decisions made by Wendland and Drude, particularly concerning generic limits. Mueller’s taxonomic views on the palms were conservative and his interpretation of generic limits was relatively broad, preferring fewer genera and more species in each genus.