This award funds a research planning visit during which Wolfe will collect preliminary data for ecological studies of Hyobanche (Orobanchaceae), a parasitic genus native to southern Africa with most of the 15 species restricted to the biodiversity hotspot regions of South Africa. Recent studies on several species of Hyobanche have revealed interesting patterns of genome evolution associated with the loss of photosynthesis. However, no studies of the basic biology of this genus have ever been conducted. This planning visit will allow Wolfe and her South African collaborators, Brad Ripley and Peter Craig from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, to determine the feasibility of various methodologies for ecological studies in sand dune systems along the coast of South Africa. The project will focus on pollination and seed ecology and the ecophysiology of water relations of host and parasite and will develop specific protocols for use in a research proposal planned for upcoming submission.
The PI intends to use the planning visit to help build a long-term research program that establishes a profile of the basic biology and ecology of this genus, and facilitates an international collaboration with researchers from the U.S. and South Africa. Researchers and students from South Africa would be involved in long-term ecological studies at several sites along the coastline of South Africa. An exchange of students from both countries would be facilitated with students from Ohio State University given the opportunity to conduct fieldwork in South Africa, and students from Rhodes University given the opportunity to learn molecular techniques at Ohio State University.
