Experimental Manipulation of Ecological Factors Influencing Mating Patterns in Mimulus ringens

在许多开花植物物种中，异交率和种群扩散率在不同的空间尺度上有显著差异。研究人员经常将这种变化归因于影响传粉媒介运动的生态因素。然而，人们对这些变量影响单个植物交配系统的方式知之甚少。本研究旨在探讨种群密度对黄麻属植物父系模式的影响。这种本地多年生植物很容易克隆，促进了遗传上不同个体的复制种群的建立。每个实验群体中的所有植物都具有独特的酶表型，允许将父权分配给所有取样的后代。对传粉者运动、开花物候和种子产量的研究将与详细的父系数据相结合，以检验一系列来自生态和进化理论的预测。此外，本研究将对异交率、基因扩散和雄性生育力的个体差异提供非常详细的描述，并将记录生态因素对观察到的模式的影响。

In many species of flowering plants, rates of outcrossing and gen dispersal vary markedly across a range of spatial scales. Researchers have often attributed this variation to ecological factors that influence pollinator movements. However, very little is known about the ways in which these variables affect the mating system of individual plants. The proposed research investigates the influence of population density on patterns of paternity in Mimulus ringens. This native perennial is readily cloned, facilitating the establishment of replicate populations of genetically distinct individuals. All plants in each experimental population will have unique enzyme phenotypes, permitting assignment of paternity to all sampled offspring. Studies of pollinator movements, flowering phenology, and seed yield will be combined with detailed paternity data to test a series of predictions derived from ecological and evolutionary theory. In addition, this study will provide an exceptionally detailed description of individual variation in outcrossing rates, gene dispersal, and male fertility and will document the influence of ecological factors on the patterns observed.