Do unrelated plants growing in the same region look similar due to climate adaptation?

Plants are a key factor in the global climate balance, they absorb CO2 and emit oxygen, they stabilize soils and intercept rainfall, reducing erosion, they generate local microclimates and can slow the spread of deserts. However, analysis of the physical and biochemical traits of plant species in relation to climate adaptation is currently quite limited in scope. The focus of such research is generally on crops or whole ecosystems, such as grassland or forest.

This PhD will study physical, biochemical and genetic features in three distantly related plant groups at the species-level to search for common patterns in relation to climate adaptation. The plant lineages under study occur predominantly in the Mediterranean climatic region but members of these lineages have spread beyond this climate zone. Common changes in features among these lineages will help understand the constraints on species imposed by climate.

Your input into the project will be to test and evaluate as wide a range of characters as possible for the obvious or cryptic influence of climatic.

Over the course of two years, working alongside the experts at University of Reading and the Royal Horticultural Society, the student will build up extensive datasets of features for the approximately 200 study species and these will be interpreted in the light of molecular phylogenies and climate envelope models. The applicant will have the opportunity to study preserved plants in herbaria, cultivated plants, and possibly some species in the field.

You will have the opportunity to interact with internationally recognised expert groups in phylogenetics at Reading and horticultural taxonomy at the RHS Wisley. Data will be analysed using morphometric and phylogenetic approaches to interpret physical traits across phylogenies in relation to local climate adaptations.