Proposed Symposium Title: SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION OF LAMIALES
Abstract: Nearly ten percent of angiosperms’ diversity is included in Lamiales, making it one of its largest orders in flowering plants. Representatives of this order can be found in nearly all ecosystems around the world, many of these well-known for their economic value. This group presents a wide morphological and ecological diversity, including from aquatic herbs to large trees, and even specialised strategies like parasitism and carnivory. All this variation along with convergent evolution led to a turbulent taxonomic history, with familial circumscriptions being constantly redrawn until today. Understanding the affinities among its lineages has also been challenging, with many inter- and intrafamilial relationships still unknown. With such wide variation, Lamiales is certainly a key lineage to understand not only plant evolution but also answer questions in related fields like biogeography and ecological networks. This potential, however, have been impaired by the lack of a solid phylogenetic framework, which is mostly a result from (1) incomplete sampling (at least at generic level); and (2) the abundance of evolutionary processes that affect phylogenetic reconstructions, like rapid radiation, incomplete lineage sorting, reticulation and whole genome duplication. Luckily, with modern high-throughput sequencing strategies, mostly focused on nuclear data, and more robust phylogenetic methods, these barriers are being overcome. This symposium will present how these challenges are being tackled across different groups in Lamiales, and how it impacted evolutionary and systematic studies in the order.
Speaker 1: Dr. Tamara Villaverde
Real Jardín Botánico (CSIC), Madrid - Spain
tvilhid@gmail.com
Phylogenomics sheds new light on the drivers behind a long-lasting systematic riddle: the figwort family Scrophulariaceae
Speaker 2: Prof. Dr. Dirk Carl Albach
University of Oldenburg - Germany
dirk.albach@uni-oldenburg.de
Revisiting the classification of Plantaginaceae based on a nuclear phylogenomics
Speaker 3: Dr. Alexandre Rizzo Zuntini
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
a.zuntini@kew.org
A comprehensive nuclear phylogenomic tree to unlock systematic and evolutionary studies in Lamiales
Topics (Up to three): Phylogenetics and Phylogenomics
Topic 2: Systematics
Topic 3: Biogeography / Phylogeography
Justification: Our symposium focus in one of the most important orders of angiosperms, making it already relevant for the IBC. Moreover, given the novel methods used by our carefully selected invited speakers, we believe the talks will be of interest not only for those studying Lamiales but for the wide community on plants systematics and evolution. We are aware of the need for equality, diversity and inclusion, so the three remaining speakers will be selected ensuring a balance in gender and careers stages is achieved.
