35th NPS abstract book

Drivers of diversity in tropical forest trees
S2.2
CATHERINE KIDNER 2, 3 , JAMES NICHOLLS 3 , MARIA-JOSE 14:15–14:45
ENDARA 1 , GRAHAM STONE 3 , PHYLLIS COLEY 1 , THOMAS
KURSAR 1 and TOBY PENNINGTON 2
c.kidner@rbge.ac.uk
1 Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK; 2 University of Edinburgh, UK;
3 University of Utah, USA
The greatest diversity of tree species is found in tropical rain forests. It is notable that this diversity is
found even at very local levels. For example, within a 50 ha plot on Barro Colorado Island in Panama
303 tree species are found, including 16 species of a single genus – Inga. Inga species are found in
high abundance across all neotropical rain forests. It is a genus of 300 legume tree species which
radiated during the last 6 million years. We are investigating the role of herbivores in generating this
species diversity and maintaining species coexistence in local communities. We have developed a
hybrid capture protocol to resolve phylogenetic structure in the face of low sequence divergence
shown in widely used phylogenetic markers. Our new phylogeny allows us to analyse evolutionary
patterns in chemical diversity, herbivore load and gene expression as well as biogeographic patterns.
Results support the hypothesis that a key factor in Inga diversity is herbivore pressure leading to
divergence in secondary chemistry produced by variation in expression of biosynthetic enzymes.
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