Morphology and Biogeography of African Mistletoe Haustorial Systems in the family Loranthaceae
Carol Wilson, Research Botanist
University and Jepson Herbaria
Closed. This professor is continuing with Spring 2024 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Fall 2024.
Mistletoes are shrubby, aerial-branch parasites belonging to order Santalales. Most are hemiparasites that obtain water and mineral nutrients and a portion of their carbon from the xylem sap of their host plants. Although they can be forest pathogens, particularly to conifer tree species that are under stress from drought, pollution, and/or pest infestations, mistletoes are recognized as keystone species in forest landscapes worldwide. These flowering plants provide structural complexity and enhance soil nutrients in forest ecosystems and provide significant food and shelter resources for animal and insect species. With this project Dr. Wilson proposes to investigate the morphological diversity and biogeography of haustoria in the Loranthaceae across different habitats within Africa.
Hypotheses tested are:
1. Haustorial types are correlated with environmental parameters.
2. Haustoria with extensive exposed tissue will occur in lowland, mesic environments while those with extensive internal tissue will occur at both low and high elevations in dryer environments.
3. Patterns of haustorial diversity will differ with coastal regions in Africa displaying higher diversity than inland regions.
Role: Haustorial samples from Africa are organized in specialty boxes by genus. Collection data labels will be produced from existing excel spreadsheets.
Haustorial morphology will be compared across species and genera using the available collections and descriptions in literature.
Distribution and range data for African species will be gathered from Calvin/Wilson collections, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and the Mistletoes of Africa by Pohill and Wiens.
Measures of the distributions and ranges of selected species representing haustorial types will be determined by projecting distributional data on maps using 100 x 100 km grids. Ecological studies will use 19 BIOCLIM variables including annual trends in temperature and precipitation, seasonality, and extreme or limiting environmental factors.
Hypotheses of correlation among species, genera, haustorial type, and environmental parameters will be tested in the GIS framework using spatial modeling, spatial statistics, and multivariate statistical methods.
The apprentice will be trained in:
• geo-referencing, a basic skill set for natural history studies.
• ecological mapping, a skill set used in ecological studies.
• curation of natural history collections.
• basic statistical analyses.
Qualifications: The apprenticeship for this semester does not require a specific skill set. The student is required to have good organizational skills and basic computer and mathematical skills including familiarity with Excel. A knowledge of the statistical computing environment R is desirable but not essential.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Carol Wilson
Hours: to be negotiated
Biological & Health Sciences