Dissertation Research: The Effects of Positive and Negative Selection on Floral Characters in Natural Populations of Silene latifolia

9701097种米格尔昆虫可以通过传粉者和捕食者的不同角色对开花植物造成积极和消极的选择。该项目解决了哈德纳属飞蛾对宽叶飞蛾施加的选择压力，这些飞蛾是传粉者和种子捕食者。对于在其西班牙本土环境中生长的白色Campion，将评估Hadena飞蛾作为传粉者的相对重要性。积极的效果将通过利用遗传父子分析重建授粉事件来评估。负面影响将通过调查种子掠夺来评估。文中将分析飞蛾访问的正面和负面影响与花朵大小的关系，花朵大小对飞蛾的吸引很重要。将通过分析种群间花朵大小的变化与观察到的当前捕食率的关系来调查捕食的长期影响。这个系统提供了一个难得的机会来研究两个物种之间的相互作用，包括正向选择和负向选择。在农业系统中，种子捕食也是一个主要问题，在农业系统中，授粉是可取的，但种子捕食者的引诱却不是。

9701097 Meagher Insects can cause positive and negative selection on flowering plants through their contrasting roles as pollinators and predators. This project addresses selection pressures placed on Silene latifolia (white campion) flowers by moths of the Hadena genus, which are pollinators and seed predators. The relative importance of Hadena moths as pollinators will be assessed for white campion growing in its native Spanish environment. Positive effects will be evaluated by reconstructing pollination events using genetic paternity analysis. Negative effects will be evaluated by investigating seed predation. Both positive and negative impacts of moth visitation will be analyzed in relation to flower size, which is important for moth attraction. Long-term effects of predation will be investigated by analyzing variation among populations in flower size in relation to observed current predation rates. This system provides a rare opportunity to study an interaction between two species that involves both positive and negative selection. Seed predation is also a major issue in agricultural systems, where pollination is desirable but the attraction of seed predators is not.