Plant Systematics
Botany 400
information on Canvas
http://botany.wisc.edu/courses/botany_400/
Kenneth J. Sytsma
Patricia Chan
Pick up course syllabus
from front desk
Botany Department
University of Wisconsin
Required plant
collection
What is Systematics?
or
Why Study Systematics?
Read: Daly et al.’s Systematics Agenda 2020
What is Systematics — or Why
Study Systematics?
?
Systematics Taxonomy
Systematics is a broad field encompassing 3
major areas
• Taxonomy
• Phylogenetics
• Biosystematics
What is Systematics — or Why
Study Systematics?
Taxonomy
Biosystematics Phylogenetics
What is Systematics — or Why
Study Systematics?
Taxonomy: identification,
nomenclature, classification
Ft. Brady
Sault St. Marie
Michigan
Cirsium pitcheri Eaton
Zina Pitcher Dune thistle - family Asteraceae
What is Systematics — or Why
Study Systematics?
Phylogeny: relationships of taxa
To what is the dune thistle related?
Cirsium canescens Nutt. Cirsium pitcheri Eaton
— Prairie thistle Dune thistle - family Asteraceae
Closest relative of the dune thistle?
What is Systematics — or Why
Study Systematics?
Phylogeny: relationships of taxa
Cirsium foliosum Hook DC Cirsium pitcheri Eaton
— Elk thistle Dune thistle - family Asteraceae
Closest relative of the dune thistle?
What is Systematics — or Why
Study Systematics?
Phylogeny: “pattern” of evolution
Carduus acanthoides Cirsium muticum Cirsium foliosum Cirsium pitcheri
Common ancestor of
dune and elk thistles
Common ancestor of all thistles
Common ancestor of thistles
and other genera of the
thistle tribe
What is Systematics — or Why
Study Systematics?
Phylogeny: “pattern” of evolution - for family Asteraceae
What is Systematics — or Why
Study Systematics?
Biosystematics: “process” of evolution
Cirsium foliosum Cirsium pitcheri
How, when, where did this
speciation event occur?
During Pleistocene alternating
shifts of ice fronts ?
What is Systematics — or Why
Study Systematics?
Biosystematics: “process” of evolution
Cirsium foliosum Cirsium pitcheri
How, when, where did this
speciation event occur?
How much genetic variation is in
the pitcher thistle?
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Scientific community obsessed with
finding life on other planets – weird and
exotic life forms
Kepler-186 f in Cygnus constellation
492 light years
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Weird and exotic life
forms exist on Earth!
• 1.4 X 106 species
discovered and described
• but can not estimate the
number of species to an
order of magnitude!
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
• we do know that there
are 24,863,177
catalogued books in the
Library of Congress
classification system as
• 1.4 X 106 species of Aug. 31, 2020!
discovered and described
• but can not estimate the
number of species to an
order of magnitude!
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
• 1.4 X 106 species
discovered and described
• but can not estimate the
number of species to an
order of magnitude!
• insects and microbes
problematic
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Temperate inventory nearly complete
• Regional or local floras
still important
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Temperate inventory nearly complete
• Regional or local floras
still important
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Projecting species niche models to
2070 under climate change model
Spalink et al. 2018 American Journal of Botany DNA Barcode phylogenetic tree of
Wisconsin flora
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Tropical inventory wide opened
• 4/5ths of 250-300K
angiosperms in tropics
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Tropical inventory wide opened
• 4/5ths of 250-300K
angiosperms in tropics
• 4 ha in neotropical cloud
forest >> 2400 spp in WI!
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Tropical inventory wide opened
• 4/5ths of 250-300K
angiosperms in tropics
• 4 ha in neotropical cloud
forest >> 2400 spp in WI!
= 8 Camp Randall stadium
playing fields
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Tropical inventory wide opened
• 4/5ths of 250-300K
angiosperms in tropics
• 4 ha in neotropical cloud
forest >> 2400 spp in WI!
• > 200 species of orchids
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Tropical inventory wide opened
• 4/5ths of 250-300K
angiosperms in tropics
• 4 ha in neotropical cloud
forest >> 2400 spp in WI!
• > 200 species of orchids
• 10%+ undescribed!
New mycotrophic genus (monocot)
from Ecuador found by Botany grad
Catherine Woodward in 2005
Systematics — Goal 1: Inventory Earth’s Biota
Tropical systematics at
the cutting edge
• biodiversity endangered
Lisianthius habuenis Sytsma sp. nov.
• New species endemic to one
lowland cloud forest peak, Cerro
Habu, central Panama - in 1983
• 1985, the forest - and the species - were gone; one of the 13,800 species
of plants E.O. Wilson had projected to disappear in the last century
Systematics — Goal 2: Identification and
Communication: Nomenclature
• to many - keying,
identifying, putting names
on organisms is
systematics (= taxonomy)
• “species” names
(binomial, common,
polynomial, uninomial)
Solidago canadensis - Canada goldenrod
Systematics — Goal 2: Identification and
Communication: Nomenclature
• to many - keying,
identifying, putting names
on organisms is
systematics (= taxonomy)
• learn skills to do this –
smart phone apps as
well!
Systematics — Goal 2: Identification and
Communication: Nomenclature
• “words” and “vocabulary”
• systematics integral to other
disciplines
Ecology
Biogeography Genetics
Systematics
Morphology Evolution
Development Cytology
Arabidopsis thaliana - Thal’s mouse-ear cress
Systematics — Goal 2: Identification and
Communication: Nomenclature
• but how do we “define”
species?
• ongoing issue that we have
still not resolved!
Arabidopsis thaliana - Thal’s mouse-ear cress
Systematics — Goal 3: Orderly, Logical
Sequence of Classification
• place species in logical
framework that relates
organisms with one
another
• “encyclopedia” for the
“vocabulary” of names
Solidago canadensis - Canada goldenrod
Systematics — Goal 3: Orderly, Logical
Sequence of Classification
Systematics — Goal 3: Orderly, Logical
Sequence of Classification
• place species in logical
framework that relates
organisms with one
another
• “encyclopedia” for the
“vocabulary” of names
• “information-retrieval”
as in herbarium or in
web-based resources
Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium
Systematics — Goal 4: Demonstrate
Evolutionary Implications of Biodiversity
• detect evolution at work, present and past,
understand its pathways and results
• substance or “meat” of systematic biology
Systematics — Goal 4: Demonstrate
Evolutionary Implications of Biodiversity
• systematics looks
at the origin of
ancient diversity:
•back in time 500
million ya to the
movement of
plants onto land
Silurian view - plants conquer land
Systematics — Goal 4: Demonstrate
Evolutionary Implications of Biodiversity
• systematics looks
at the origin of
more recent
diversity:
Adaptive radiation of
Lobeliaceae on the
Hawaiian Islands in last
15 my
Systematics — Goal 4: Demonstrate
Evolutionary Implications of Biodiversity
• and systematics
looks at the origin
of very recent
diversity:
•rise of polyploid
species in less
than 100 years!
Tragopogon - goat’s beard
Systematics — Goal 4: Demonstrate
Evolutionary Implications of Biodiversity
• systematics looks
at process and
pattern
• morphological
and molecular
characters
• tree metaphor =
genealogy =
phylogeny
Tree of Life
www.tolweb.org/tree/
Plant systematics has not
outlived its usefulness; it is
just getting underway on an
attractively infinite task.
Lincoln Constance
