Human survival depends upon maintaining and preserving biodiversity, which provides fundamental services and products. Learning about biodiversity in all taxonomic groups and all parts of the planet provides us with a deeper understanding to allow management of the global ecosystem for future generations. Monographic studies are an important means of clarifying the limits of species and their inter-relationships as well as suggesting evolutionary processes. In the plant kingdom where the systems of organ development are modular and less integrated than with animals, chromosomal evolution has been especially important. All kinds of chromosomal alterations have taken place during speciation, especially polyploidy, and the plant genus Melampodium (Asteraceae) is an excellent example of a group that has undergone many such changes.