Smithsonian scientists find evidence that could rewrite Hawaii's botanic...( Scientists at the Smithsonian Instit...)

Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution have discovered data that suggests one of Hawaiis most dominant plants, Metrosideros, has been a resident of the islands far longer than previously believed.

Their findings are being published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B in London on April 16.

Metrosideros, commonly called ohia in the Hawaiian Islands, has puzzled researchers for years. Although previously thought to be a newcomer to the islands, these plants are well integrated into the islands ecosystems. However, scientists from the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonians National Zoo now are able to show, through molecular research, that Metrosideros may have colonized the islands soon after they formed. If so, these plants would have played an important role in shaping the ecology of the islands from the beginning.

The isolated Hawaiian Islands are home to many unique and endemic species of plants and animals. To know how these species came to interact with one another and form functioning ecosystems, scientists must first know how and when each species came to be on the islands. This is particularly important in the case of Metrosiderosmany species of birds and insects are specialized to coexist and feed on these plants. Knowing when Metrosideros dispersed and colonized the islands also will give scientists a better understanding of how and when the fauna that rely on them evolved.

Until now, no definitive phylogeographical study (combining evolutionary history with current distribution patterns in order to understand both) has been done on ecologically dominant species in this island group.

What we are finding, said Scott Miller, a Smithsonian scientist working on the project, is a distinct geographical pattern that supports a hypothesis that these plants colonized the Hawaiian Islands sequentially as they formed. This could prove that Metrosideros played a far more
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