From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 3, July 2023.
By Richie Hodel, Alicia Talavera, Jun Wen.
Recently, Curator Jun Wen, and postdoctoral fellows Alicia Talavera and Richie Hodel, undertook a 12-day collecting trip (3,800 miles) in the southeastern United States with the goal of collecting and conducting field studies on several species of wild grapes (Vitis spp.) and cherries (Prunus spp.), as well as associated species. The trip was designed to fill in the collection gaps in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, the panhandle of Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
The wild relatives of two economically and ecologically important plant lineages, grapes and cherries, are distributed throughout much of North America. Wen’s research has focused on both the grape genus (Vitis, Vitaceae) and the cherry genus (Prunus, Rosaceae) because both represent lineages that have successfully radiated throughout temperate North America and are model systems for studying the diversification and biogeographic history of forest species. Furthermore, both groups are also excellent taxonomic models to tackle species delimitations integrating morphological, phylogenomic, and ecological data.
Talavera is interested in the evolutionary diversification of North American Vitis especially the Vitis cinerea species complex and the Vitis aestivalis species complex. Hodel is studying the biogeography of the entire cherry genus, as well as the genome-phenome-environment connection within selected cherry species in North America.
Left: Alicia Talavera and Jun Wen collecting wild grape, Vitis simpsonii, near Quincy, Florida. (photo by R. Hodel)
Right: Richie Hodel and Jun Wen searching for Alabama cherry and black cherry in oak-hickory-cherry-pine forest, near Indian Mountain, Cherokee Co., Alabama. (photo by A. Talavera)
Wen and Hodel collected several hundred accessions of focal species in the cherry genus. Specifically, Hodel is researching the mechanisms that allow the widespread Prunus serotina (black cherry) to occupy diverse habitats across North America, as well the regional variation within the species complex. This trip was particularly fruitful because it improved our collections of Prunus serotina from southeastern habitats. But more importantly, extensive sampling in the southeast US revealed that Prunus serotina ssp. alabamensis (the Alabama cherry; or Prunus alabamensis) is sympatric with the widespread Prunus serotina, and it is likely reproductively isolated from the widespread black cherry, based on phenology.
Another important goal of the trip was to further build the collections of North American Vitis, especially collecting populations of Vitis cinerea and Vitis aestivalis species complexes, the latter of which frequently share its habitat with Prunus serotina spp. alabamensis. These collections and the field observations are essential for the development of Talavera´s postdoctoral research. Wen and Talavera will utilize a widely sampled species which covers most of the distribution of these species to clarify the complex evolutionary history of North American Vitis.
Left: Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides, Bromeliaceae) was a common sight in the Florida panhandle portion of the collecting trip.
Middle: Vitis mustangensis or Mustang grape in its easternmost distribution range in Wilcox Co., Alabama.
Right: The fox grape, Vitis labrusca, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
(all photos by Jun Wen)
Wen, Talavera, and Hodel left Washington, D.C. on May 20, traveling directly to South Carolina, where they collected specimens immediately upon arrival, in areas near Greenville and Lexington. After South Carolina, they traveled to several locations in central and northern Georgia before traversing Alabama from the north to the south, with subsequent stops in southern Georgia, before reaching the southernmost destination of the trip, the panhandle region of Florida. The three then headed to western Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina, target collecting the grape and cherry populations as they traveled, before returning home to D.C. on May 31.
Several botanists kindly facilitated the collections made during this field trip. Alvin Diamond, Curator of the Troy University Herbarium (TROY), spent a full day showing the group field sites surrounding Troy, Alabama. Dan Spaulding, Curator of the Herbarium at the Anniston Museum of Natural History, helped the team collect from relict natural forests on the grounds of the museum in Anniston, Alabama. The team also spent several hours working in the Troy University Herbarium and visited the Troy University Arboretum. The visit to TROY was especially fruitful for checking the records of several species, e.g., Vitis mustangensis (Mustang grape), Vitis cinerea (graybark grape), and taxa of the Prunus serotina complex. Wen helped annotate c. 100 Vitis collections at TROY. Prior to the field trip, Jimmy Triplett at Jacksonville State University (JSU) also provided important information on the Alabama cherry and loaned specimens from the JSU Herbarium.
This field work opened up many new questions on the evolutionary diversification and systematics of both grapes and cherries in North America. These collections will inspire research on the biodiversity assembly of grapes and cherries in North America and help untangle the complex taxonomy of several species complexes.
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