9628841 Luteyn A promising partnership between morphological and molecular specialists on the heath family, Ericaceae, is directed toward study of several genera of tropical montane "blueberries" in Central and South America. Dr. James Luteyn of New York Botanical Garden is experienced in field collecting and in taxonomic revisionary work, with a major interest in New World ericads; Dr. Kathleen Kron of Wake Forest University is a specialist in molecular phylogenetic analyses of plants, with interests in New and Old World rhododendrons and other ericads. Combined morphological and molecular (DNA) analyses will focus on the genera Macleania, Psammisia, and Mycerinus and their putative relatives in the Vaccinieae or blueberry group of Ericaceae, making use of newly collected field materials and preserved herbarium specimens. The taxonomic revisionary work will produce full descriptions of all recognized species, identification keys, a nomenclator with updated scientific names, habitat notes, and full inventory of the geographic distribution of all the species. DNA sequencing will be done for both chloroplast genes and the nuclear ribosomal region, where nucleotide differences (mutational substitutions) are likely to prove phylogenetically informative between species and genera. The combined morphology and DNA data sets can be analyzed to construct a phylogenetic tree of these ericad taxa. From such a taxon genealogy, one can study character evolution (in floral form, for example, and fruit type) and infer migrational histories for the species. The Ericaceae are species-rich in the Andean regions of the neotropics, and often highly localized or endemic in their distribution. Increasing habitat destruction adds urgency to the study of these and other plants. The union of morphological and molecular approaches is an encouraging response to the need for modern biodiversity studies of tropical plants. Results of the taxonomic and phylogenetic investigations will prove useful in ecology and evolut ion and for germplasm research and conservation.
