Format: ORAL

Chi-Chuan Chen1, Samuli Lehtonen1, Hanna Tuomisto1,2

1 University of Turku, Turku, Finland 2 Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

The tropics are home to high species diversity, but our understanding of the formation, evolution and distribution of that diversity is still limited. This hampers the targeting of conservation efforts, especially in such megadiverse environments as Amazonia. Here we focus on unraveling the evolutionary diversification of the fern genus Adiantum in Amazonia. The genus has approximately 225 species distributed worldwide, and ecological inventories have found it to be one of the most abundant and diverse fern genera in Amazonian rain forests, making it an ideal example group. However, the species delimitations, phylogenetic relationships, and niche evolution of Adiantum remain poorly understood. By applying advanced bioinformatics techniques and integrating information from molecular (chloroplast and nuclear data), morphological and environmental data, we aim to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships of Adiantum in Amazonia and to explore to what degree the diversification of Adiantum species is related to niche evolution, dispersal limitation and hybridization. The results will not only improve our understanding of the biodiversity of Adiantum itself, but will also contribute to understanding the formation of biodiversity in the Amazon region in general.