The mountainous Sino-Himalayan region is a biodiversity "hotspot" that is unusual in lying north of the tropical zone. It is poorly understood relative to its importance in the geographic evolution of plant diversity patterns in the Northern Hemisphere. This research will produce a synthetic revision of an important element of its flora: Corydalis (Fumariaceae), a species-rich, bumblebee-pollinated group of herbaceous flowering plants, of which many have only recently been described and more certainly await discovery. Morphological and molecular data, combined with traditional taxonomic and modern phylogenetic methods, will be used to produce a stable classification and new inferences about the tempo of diversification and historical geography of these species.
Biodiversity hotspots are regions of high species richness and endemism that are at particular risk of ecological degradation, and systematic studies of their signature elements are urgently needed. Insofar as exceptions prove the rule, analysis of such a lineage as Corydalis, that has diversified to such an extent outside of the tropics, will enhance our understanding of the latitudinal gradient in global species diversity. The results of this project will be widely disseminated through various media (print, Internet, oral presentations, specimens) to a wide range of target audiences, benefiting science education, conservation, and biodiversity research.
