People

Jonas Mendez Reneau

PhD Candidate

I am interested in using multidisciplinary approaches to bolster our understanding of plant systematics, particularly in regard to polyploid fern systems. I seek to synthesize inter and intra species evolutionary relationships to form a holistic understanding of the continuum between population and species level evolution. My next approach seeks to understand how polyploidy and reproductive systems inform observed phylogenies in diploid and polyploid species. In this regard I am investigating mechanisms that cause polyploid spore formation via meiotic deviations as well as how reproductive hormonal chemistry and breeding systems of fern gametophytes affect their adaptive potential. Informed by these phylogenetic and lab approaches I will be using field based collections and experiments to test hypothesis about polyploid spore formation and preferred breeding systems within the context of a wild population's ecological niche. These results will then be related in a broader biogeography context at the genus level to bridge our understanding of population and species level eco-evolutionary and polyploid dynamics.

My PhD dissertation focuses on the fern genus Polypodium s.s. with the goal of using it as a model system to understand the evolution of polyploid vascular plants. My first chapter is concerned with resolving phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships within the genus as well as identifying cryptic allopolyploid species. My second chapter focuses on population genetics, breeding systems, and ecological niches of two species; the various morpho and eco types of Hawaiian endemic P. pellucidum and its most closely related species, P. scouleri, from the west coast United States and Baja California. The third chapter examines biochemical and environmental mechanisms leading to polyploid spore formation in live individuals of diploid, triploid, and tetraploid species of Polypodium.

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