Dissertation Research: Interspecific Interactions and Life History in the Maintenance of Gynodioecy in Sidalcea malviflora (Malvaceae)

小行星9701311 雌雄同体是指在一个特定物种的种群中同时出现雌性和两性个体。关于影响植物维持这一育种系统的因素一直存在很大争议。这项研究的目的是了解各种生态 过程和生长习惯可能对维持种群中的雌性起到限制或释放的作用。特别是，PI正在研究植物与昆虫的相互作用，包括花粉限制和花草食性可能会对雌性和雌雄同体产生不同的影响。此外，我们正在研究克隆传播和空间分布的女性和雌雄同体的人口可能会影响花粉限制。PI的研究物种是Sidalcea malviflora，一个雌株异株的多年生植物，有2个对比和同域的克隆和无性系亚种（ssp.裂叶藻和裂叶藻ssp. malviflora）。将结合实地观察、实验操作和遗传温室研究来研究上述过程。 雌蕊异株通常被认为是雌雄异株发育的中间步骤，或在植物物种中完全分离的雄性和雌性个体。正因为如此，调查的影响因素的维护女性在雌雄异株植物种群是至关重要的，我们更广泛地了解整个开花植物的育种系统的发展。虽然许多研究已经调查了遗传机制和资源分配方面的作用，以维持雌性在雌雄异株种群，很少有研究着眼于生态因素或克隆生长的作用，选择女性。这项研究是很重要的，因为它调查了几个相互作用的生态因素的影响，从而使我们能够评估整体的重要性，生态和生长形式在维护gynodiobacterium在Sidalcea malviflora。

9701311 Raven Gynodioecy is the co-occurrence of female and hermaphrodite individuals in a population of a given species. There has been much debate about the factors influencing the maintenance of this breeding system in plants. The aim of this study is to understand how various ecological processes and growth habits may act as constraints or releases on the maintenance of females in populations. In particular, the PIs are looking at how plant-insect interactions including pollen limitation and floral herbivory may differentially affect females and hermaphrodites. In addition, we are studying how clonal spread and the spatial distribution of females and hermaphrodites in a population may affect pollen limitation. The PIs' study species is Sidalcea malviflora, a gynodioecious perennial with 2 contrasting and sympatric clonal and aclonal subspecies (ssp. laciniata and ssp. malviflora, respectively). A combination of field observations, experimental manipulations and genetical greenhouse studies will be used to look at the above processes. Gynodioecy is often considered to be an intermediate step in the development of dioecy, or completely separate male and female individuals within plant species. Because of this, investigation into the factors influencing the maintenance of females in gynodioecious plant populations is crucial to our broader understanding of the development of breeding systems throughout the flowering plants. Though many studies have investigated genetic mechanisms and aspects of resource allocation which act to maintain females in gynodioecious populations, very few studies have looked at the roles of ecological factors or clonal growth in selecting for females. This study is important because it investigates the effects of several interacting ecological factors and will thus enable us to evaluate the overall importance of ecology and growth form in the maintenance of gynodioecy in Sidalcea malviflora.