Systematics, Evolution, and Ecology of Melastomataceae

About this book

This book presents a synthesis of critical new information for the Melastomataceae, one of the ten richest families among flowering plants with over 5,800 species that has its diversity highly concentrated in tropical or subtropical areas. It describes the family’s global diversity and distribution and summarizes recent advances in systematics, evolution, biogeography, reproductive biology and ecology.

Contents

1. Melastomataceae diversity and distribution
2. History of Classification of the Melastomataceae
3. General morphology and terminology
4. Historical biogeography of Melastomataceae
5. An overview of Melastomataceae classification and phylogenetics
6. Revisiting character evolution in the Myrtales and its bearing on classification: Should the circumscription of Melastomataceae include the "memecyloids"?
7. Systematics of Kibessieae
8. Systematics of Astronieae
9. Phylogeny and systematics of Henrietteeae
10. The tribe Miconieae: many genera or one genus?
11. Systematics and taxonomy of the Merianieae
12. Systematics of Bertolonieae and Trioleneae
13. Systematics of Blakeeae
14. The tribe Cyphostyleae; exceptions that prove the rules
15. Systematics of Sonerileae and Dissocheteae: creating order out of chaos
16. Systematics of Cambessedesieae
17. Systematics of Rhexieae
18. Systematics of Microlicieae
19. Systematic studies in the Neotropical tribe Marcetieae
20. Melastomateae: a review on the taxonomic history- morphology- molecular phylogeny and biogeography
21. Comparative floral ontogeny of Melastomataceae
22. Seed morphological features in Melastomataceae
23. Patterns of Chromosome Number Diversity and Evolution in the Melastomataceae
24. Apomixis in Melastomataceae: Diversity of developmental mechanisms and ecological consequences
25. Pollination syndromes and flower diversification in Melastomataceae
26. Stamen diversity in Melastomataceae: morphology- color and function
27. Patterns of diversification of Miconia (Miconieae) in the Greater and Lesser Antilles
28. Colonization by Melastomataceae and its diversification in the Atlantic Forest
29. A review of the paleobotanical record of Melastomataceae
30. Shapes of species responses to soil fertility in lowland Amazonian Melastomataceae
31. Seed germination ecology in Neotropical Melastomataceae
32. Seed dispersal ecology in Neotropical Melastomataceae
33. Myrmecophytism in the Melastomataceae
34. How non-native invasive Melastomataceae inform a greater understanding of the biology and genetics of the family
Conclusions

Customer Reviews

Biography

Renato Goldenberg is a full professor (“Professor Titular”) at the Botany Department at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, in Curitiba, Brazil. He studied Agronomy at the Universidade de São Paulo, then got both his master's and PhD in Vegetal Biology at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, with a short internship at the National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, DC. He spent two sabbatical periods in the US, working at the New Your Botanical Garden and, again, at the National Museum of Natural History. Nowadays he teaches mostly plant systematics and field botany for undergrads, and also in the botany / vegetal biology graduate programs at his home institution and also at UNICAMP. His research focuses on taxonomy, systematics and any other topic related to Melastomataceae. He is currently a section editor for Phytotaxa and the Brazilian Journal of Botany, and receives a productivity research grant from CNPq (Brazil).

Fabián A. Michelangeli is the Abess Curator of Tropical Botany at the Institute of Systematic Botany of the New York Botanical Garden. He studied Biology in his native Caracas at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and obtained a PhD in Plant Sciences from Cornell University. His research focuses on the systematics, taxonomy and evolution of tropical plants, especially on the family Melastomataceae. He also teaches in the graduate program in Biology at the City University of New York and Forestry and Environmental Sciences at Yale University. He has been an Associate Editor of Brittonia since 2004.

Frank Almeda is Curator Emeritus of Botany in the Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) where he also served two terms as Director of Research. He did his undergraduate work in Botany and Bacteriology at the University of South Florida (Tampa) and then earned a PhD in Plant Sciences at Duke University. His research focuses on the Systematics and evolution of tropical vascular plants with a special emphasis on Melastomataceae and Symplocaceae. Before his official retirement, he was also a Research Professor of Biology at San Francisco State University (SFSU) where he served as a major professor to numerous graduate students in the SFSU/CAS joint training program, an activity that he continues. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Harvard Papers in Botany.