Abstract Detail

Pacific Biogeography

Paetzold, Claudia [1], Wood, Kenneth R. [2], Wagner, Warren [3], Appelhans, Marc [1].

Navigating the assembly parameter maze: RADseq resolves phylogeny of Hawaiian Melicope (Rutaceae).

The Hawaiian Islands are one of the most remote places on earth with > 2500 miles distance from the nearest continental landmass. Each island goes through a specific life cycle of growth and submission, providing a continuously fluctuating amount of available ecological niches. As such the Islands are traditionally considered to be a laboratory for evolution.
Melicope (Rutaceae) is the largest radiation of woody plants on the islands comprising 54 species. Sanger Sequencing revealed the lineage to be monophyletic, originating from one colonization event in the Middle to Late Miocene. However, species level relationships are largely unresolved.
We used RADseq to investigate relationships within the Hawaiian radiation of Melicope resulting in the first completely resolved phylogeny of the lineage. We highlight implications for taxonomy, conservation biology and historical biogeography. In addition, we emphasize potential advantages and pitfalls when applying RADseq to a lineage of that age.
We highlight the necessity of thorough and structured testing of parameter space during RADseq assembly for phylogenetic inference. This especially concerns parameters governing the identification and clustering of loci in order to avoid both over- and undermerging of loci and thus obtaining datasets of truly homologous regions.

1 - Albrecht-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants, Untere Karspüle 2, Goettingen, Lower Saxony, 37073, Germany
2 - National Tropical botanical Garden, Science & Conservation, 3530 Papalina Road, Kalaheo, HI, 96741, USA
3 - Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, West Loading Dock, 10th and Constitution Ave, Washington, DC, 20560-0166, USA

Keywords:
Melicope
Coalescent method
RAD sequencing
Pacific
Bioinformatics
parameter optimization
phylogeny.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Number:
Abstract ID:151
Candidate for Awards:None