| Diane
McCarthy Graduate student Department of Biological Sciences Program in Ecology and Evolution University of Illinois at Chicago 845 W. Taylor Street M/C 066 Chicago IL 60607 diane@uic.edu Mason-Gamer Lab UIC Biology Department |
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| Diane
McCarthy Graduate student Department of Biological Sciences Program in Ecology and Evolution University of Illinois at Chicago 845 W. Taylor Street M/C 066 Chicago IL 60607 diane@uic.edu Mason-Gamer Lab UIC Biology Department |
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| Research |
| Systematics and Phylogeography of the Genus Tilia in North America  Tilia americana
(Malvaceae), the
basswood or linden tree, is one of the
most common trees in mesic
forests of eastern North America. Its toothed, heart-shaped leaves and
inflorescences of small white flowers attached to narrow leaf-like
bracts are distinctive, and Tilia is
widely planted as an ornamental.
It is also known for the honey made from its nectar. While the genus Tilia consists of roughly 25
species worldwide, the number of
species in
North America has never been firmly established. Depending on the
author, North America may have as many as 20 or as few as one species
of Tilia. Since this species
complex lacks distinct morphological characters that identify species,
and yet there is obvious variation that deserves to be recognized, Tilia is an excellent test case for
the
use of genetic markers to identify boundaries between species. By
detecting interruptions in patterns of gene flow within a species
complex, we may gain greater
understanding of the process of speciation in an outcrossing taxon
capable of long-distance dispersal. DNA sequence data will also be used
to describe levels of variability within and among populations and
species and to describe their phylogeographic histories. Since
about half of Tilia's North
American range lies in formerly glaciated regions, patterns of allele
distribution can point to possible refugia and corridors of
recolonization. Finally, DNA sequences from species of Tilia in Europe and Asia will be
used to generate a phylogeny of the genus that will place the North
American species
into their global context and may allow us to estimate the date of
their arrival on this continent."A tree is a tree - how many more do you
need to look at?" Ronald
Reagan, 1966
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Presentations McCarthy D and Mason-Gamer RJ. Chloroplast DNA
variation among populations of American
basswood, Tilia americana. Poster, Evolution
2008, University of Minnesota Pictures I spent much of the summers of 2007 and 2008 in the
field, exploring the eastern half of the lovely U.S., collecting Tilia and fending off mosquitoes.
Go here
and here
to see pictures of trees and many other things!   "I have had my results for a long time, but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them." Karl Friedrich Gauss |
| About
me |
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I live in Chicago,
the nicest city in the world, and when I am not studying I can
usually be found reading, gardening, playing The Sims, cheering for the
Cubs, or playing with my greyhounds.
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In
a past life, I was:
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"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" Homer Simpson |
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