Orchidaceae is one of the largest plant families on Earth, with an estimated 25,000–30,000 species, and its diversity is usually explained by a handful of celebrated “key innovations”: the fused pollinarium that packages pollen for precise transfer, deceptive and highly specialized pollination syndromes, mycoheterotrophic seed germination that depends on mycorrhizal fungi, and a largely epiphytic, CAM-photosynthesis-supported lifestyle. These traits are widely cited as the explanation for why orchids are so species-rich compared to their relatives.

But being associated with a diverse group is not the same as having caused that diversity. My current work asks this more directly: using a broad angiosperm-wide phylogeny and trait data, do these proposed key innovations actually correspond to detectable shifts in diversification rate? I will use state-dependent diversification methods to test whether lineages carrying these traits diversify faster.

This project is still in very early stages…