Dr. Siddharthan S, Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, presented a research paper on the evolutionary history and phylogeny of rare and endemic milkweed plants of India. This global event is held every six years under the guidance of the International Association for Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS), and attended by more than 2000 scientists from all over the world.
The paper talks about the rare and endangered plant of the Eastern Ghats. Using DNA sequencing, we studied the evolutionary position of this group of plants with reference to relatives in the Himalayas and Western Ghats. The study showed that the climate of the Deccan plateau helps in the evolution of these plants and some relatives of these plants have migrated to the Himalayas and South East Asia.
