Modern methods of gathering molecular data and of explicit data analysis will be combined to examine questions about the phylogenetic relationships among green algae and lower land plants (i.e., the bryophytes or mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). Various methods will be used to obtain nucleic acids from the plants of interest and to sequence various regions of the ribosomal RNA genes. The gene sequences will then be compared and hypotheses fundamental questions debated for over a century will be the focus in a study on mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. In a second component of the project strikingly different, opposing views about the taxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography of the charophytes (also known as the stoneworts, and important group of morphologically advance algae) will be examined. The evidence provided should resolve the current conflict. The third component of the project focusses on various lineages of chlorophytes (green algae) and will complete current studies on such groups as the marine green algae and the very unusual "conjugating green algae" (i.e., the Zygnematales). The combination of molecular and morphological data in the data analyses to be completed will provide an outstanding example of the utility of combining data sets. The data collected will also complement similar sequence data available for the vascular land plants.
