Research projects on Cucurbitaceae biogeography, chromosome evolution, and flower and fruit evolution

From EESwiki

The Cucurbitaceae family contains numerous economically important species, such as cucumber, melon, loofah, and chayote. We are pursuing several projects on Cucurbitaceae biogeography, chromosome evolution, and flower and fruit evolution (how they adapted to pollinators and dispersers). Student projects involve sequencing chloroplast or nuclear loci from species selected to represent a particular "problem," say, a major change in geographic range or a change in sexual system. Typically, the student will obtain c. 20 sequences and then analyze them in the context of existing data sets to learn various methods of phylogenetic inference.