Biotic and Abiotic Mechanisms for the Maintenance of Variation in Flower Form of an Alpine Wildflower

9508741格哈特解释遗传变异是如何产生的，如何在生物体中分布，并随着时间的推移而保持是进化生物学的一个主要目标。决定生物体繁殖成功的特征的遗传变异尤其重要，因为它奠定了物种在新的环境挑战下成功地自我延续的能力。对于动物授粉的植物来说，一个这样的属性就是花形。花的形态是一种复杂的特征，它同时影响植物资源的利用、敌人的行为和授粉的可能性。这项建议解决了环境因素保持落基山脉最丰富和生态优势的花朵之一的花的形态差异，Polemonium Viglium。具体地说，实验将测试动物传粉者喜欢的大而艳丽的花是否会为未来的生长和生存带来高昂的资源成本，和/或是否会使植物更明显，更容易受到花卉捕食者的影响。这样的生态权衡可以解释为什么花的形式的遗传变异在粘性青霉和几乎所有其他已被研究的自然和农业植物物种中持续存在。目前农业在作物施肥、灌溉和化学病虫害管理方面的支出相当可观。这里描述的研究可以通过建议如何通过遗传优化花型来减少从植物生长中分流的资源量和因虫害而损失的胚珠数量，同时继续确保足够的授粉，从而降低这些成本。通过这种方式，拟议的研究有可能使向日葵、蓝莓、草莓、紫花苜蓿和油菜籽等无数其他动物授粉作物的种植更经济、更环保。

9508741 Gerhardt Explaining how genetic variation arises, is distributed among organisms, and is maintained over time is a major goal of evolutionary biology. Genetic variation in the characteristics that determine an organism's reproductive success is especially important, because it underlies the capacity of species to perpetuate themselves successfully under new environmental challenges. For animal-pollinated plants, one such attribute is flower form. Flower morphology is a complex trait that simultaneously influences plant resource use, the behavior of enemies, and the likelihood of pollination. This proposal addresses the environmental factors maintaining morphological variation in the flowers of one of the most abundant and ecologically dominant flowers of the Rocky Mountains, Polemonium viscosum. Specifically, experiments will test whether the large showy flowers preferred by animal pollinators exact a high cost in resources for future growth and survival and/or make plants more apparent and susceptible to flower predators. Such ecological tradeoffs could explain why genetic variation in flower form persists over time in P. viscosum and nearly every other natural and agricultural plant species that has been studied. Current farming expenditures on crop fertilization, irrigation and chemical pest management are considerable. The research described here could reduce such costs by suggesting how flower form can be genetically optimized to alleviate the amount of resource diverted from plant growth and the number of ovules lost to pest damage, while continuing to ensure adequate pollination. In this way, the proposed studies have the potential to make the cultivation of sunflowers, blueberries, strawberries, alfalfa and rapeseed, among myriad other animal-pollinated crops, more economical and environmentally sound.