9321788 Soltis Species diversity in the plant genus Gilia of the phlox family has provided a rich resource for numerous biosystematic studies of speciation patterns and processes. The taxa were used as model systems for many of Verne Grant's ideas about modes and rates of plant evolution in his classic text, Plant Speciation. However, no explicit phylogenetic analysis of the ca. 70 species of Gilia has been made; consequently, the detailed affinities of individual species are not well known, and much remains speculative about the pattern of diversification and species divergence in this group. Under the direction of faculty adviser Dr. Douglas Soltis, graduate student Leigh Johnson is conducting field work and laboratory analyses of two major species groups of Gilia , in order to amass new chloroplast and nuclear DNA evidence on species relationships. In addition, numerous population samples will be analyzed for protein variability to assay genetic polymorphisms and variability. A DNA based phylogeny of Gilia will facilitiate the study of diversification of floral form and of breeding systems in the genus by clarifying the direction of change and identifying intermediate steps in evolution.
