Elizabeth Stacy and Tomoko Sakishima (Life Sciences), along with collaborators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, the University of Monpellier (France), University of Waikato (New Zealand), and the University of Florida, published in Plant Systematics and Evolution. They used targeted amplicon sequencing of 40 nuclear genes to construct a time-calibrated phylogeny of the predominantly Pacific woody genus Metrosideros (Myrtaceae) and test hypotheses of Metrosideros evolution within Hawai’i. All analyses supported the monophyly of the genus. Hawaiian Metrosideros were also monophyletic and dated to 3.1 MYA, which is intermediate to previous estimates based on nuclear ribosomal/chloroplast loci. Within the Hawaiian Metrosideros clade, relationships were unresolved, and phylogenetic patterns were not concordant with biogeographic hypotheses of island progression, or the delineation of taxa. These results provide a data-rich estimate of the timing of a single introduction of Metrosideros to Hawai’i and highlight the need for molecular markers with higher evolutionary rates for resolution of relationships within this recent radiation.
Sakishima is a Ph.D. candidate.
