Tito de Morais, Claire

ETH Zürich Claire Tito de Morais Institut f. Terrestrische Ökosysteme CHN G 72 Universitätstrasse 16 8092 Zürich Phone: +41 44 632 71 69 E-Mail:

Curriculum Vitae

PhD project

A complete understanding of the mechanisms that maintain species coexistence in tropical plant communities continue to elude ecologists. Various hypotheses have been advanced, no single theory emerges as a principle determinant of species distributions and diversity. One important but missing element of this theory is the role of gene flow (by pollen and seed dispersal) and genetic variation in shaping competitive outcomes within and among species.
We seek to explore the degree to which seed dispersal is inversely correlated with pollen flow, and the extent to which this relationship is shaped by tree distributional patterns and competition among seedlings based on relatedness.
We will explore a set of hypotheses relating to these ideas in dipterocarps trees in a tropical lowland forest site in Borneo.
We will use ecological approaches (nursery experiments, field experiments) and molecular techniques ( nuclear and chloroplastic microsatellite markers) to investigate the distributions and spatial genetic structure of adult trees, relatedness among seedlings, and patterns of dispersal.

Publications

Terral J.F., Newton C., Ivorra S., Gros-Balthazard M., Tito de Morais C., Picq S., Tengberg M., Pintaud J.C. (2011) Insights into the historical biogeography of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) using geometric morphometry of modern and ancient seeds. Journal of Biogeography, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02649.x