Dynamics of phenotypic space exploration in ferns and lycophytes (2022 - Current)

Status: In progress: | Nature: Research

The origin of phenotypic variation is one of the fundamental questions in macroevolution. The phenotype, a product of the complex interaction between the environment and the genotype, is directly linked to the fitness of organisms and is subject to the action of selection. In addition, the set of phenotypic characteristics of a given organism defines or restricts the ecological space where it is able to maintain itself and reproduce, the niche. Various evolutionary processes can act over time to influence the existence or not of phenotypic disparity, such as stabilizing or divergent selection, pleiotropy, gene flow, linkage of coadapted traits, drift, stasis, constraints, or biotic factors such as competition, herbivory, etc. This project seeks to understand the occupation of phenotypic and environmental space in a comparative phylogenetic context in several lineages of ferns and lycophytes using morphometric, spectral (in the near infrared region) and environmental data, and robust phylogenetic inferences obtained by massive DNA sequencing.

Integrants: Thais Elias Almeida (coordinator), Niksoney Azevedo Mendonça, Augusto César Pessôa Santiago, Marise Helen Vale de Oliveira, Carolina do Valle Monteiro Sousa, Keven dos Santos Lima.

Curation and conservation of the CCAA Herbarium (2024 - Current)

Status: In progress | Nature: Research

Project to maintain and expand the collection of the CCAA Herbarium (UFMA-Chapadinha), which has around 2,100 samples, including 946 ferns and 106 lycophytes. The aim is to document the plant diversity of Maranhão, with an emphasis on the Cerrado region, and make the data available to the scientific community.

Integrants: Rozijane Santos Fernandes (coordinator), Niksoney Azevedo Mendonça, Maria da Conceição de Carvalho Bastos, Sirlane Santos Oliveira, Vanessa Fernandes Ferreira, Pedro Henrique Castro Aguiar, Jainara Pereira Silva, José Augusto dos Santos Silva, Francimária Vasconcelos Carvalho, Carla Denise de Sousa Araújo, Lailze Sousa Monteles, Lazaro Nikael Araujo Oliveira, Vinicius Lima Sampaio.

Curation and conservation of the CCAA Herbarium (2022 - 2024)

Status: Completed | Nature: Research

Previous curatorial project that consolidated the CCAA Herbarium as an institutional asset, organizing around 2,100 botanical samples (including 946 ferns) in a database and establishing conservation protocols.

Integrants: Rozijane Santos Fernandes (coordinator), Niksoney Azevedo Mendonça, Maria da Conceição de Carvalho Bastos, Sirlane Santos Oliveira, Frácimaria V. Carvalho, Pedro Henrique Castro Aguiar, Jainara Pereira Silva.