Quantifying the Role of Pollinator Mediated Selection in the Evolution of Pollination Syndromes in Silene (Caryophyllaceae)

该项目将量化花的性状，如形状、颜色、气味、花的展示和花蜜奖励是否反映了植物对特定动物传粉者的适应性反应。本研究将对康乃馨科的三种石竹属植物进行研究，这三种植物在花的性状上存在差异，并且先验地适应不同类型的动物传粉者，包括蜜蜂、飞蛾和蜂鸟。通过观察和操作，我们将确定不同的传粉媒介对每个物种的繁殖成功有多重要，以及一个特定的传粉媒介群体是否实际上选择了三个物种中每一个物种中现有的花性状。该项目的目标是了解传粉者在促进植物界植物多样性方面的作用。例如，蜂鸟拜访的花朵一般是红色的，没有气味，白天开花，而飞蛾授粉的花朵通常是白色的，香气浓郁，晚上开放。因此，我们希望量化蜂鸟和飞蛾是否更喜欢那些与蜂鸟或飞蛾授粉相关的性状表达更高的植物，以及这是否会导致植物更大的繁殖成功率。无论我们发现一个物种是被多种动物成功传粉，还是只被特定的传粉者传粉，都将具有保护意义。在前一种情况下，动物的减少可能会降低植物的繁殖成功率。然而，在后一种情况下，特定传粉媒介的丧失会导致植物物种的丧失。

This project will quantify whether flower traits such as shape, color, scent, floral display, and nectar rewards reflects an adaptive response by plants to specific animals pollinators. Three Silene species (carnation family) will be investigated that differ in flower traits and a priori appear to be adapted to different types of animal pollinators, including bees, moths and hummingbirds. Through observations and manipulations we will determine how important different pollinators are to the reproductive success of each species and whether a particular group of pollinators actually selects for the present suite of floral traits found in each of the three species.The goal of the project is to understand the role of pollinators in promoting floral diversity in the plant kingdom. For example, flowers visited by hummingbirds are generally red, scentless and flower during the day, while moth pollinated flowers are often white, richly fragrant and open at night. Thus we hope to quantify whether hummingbirds and moths favor plants that have greater expression of traits associated with either hummingbird or moth pollination and whether this leads to greater reproductive success of the plants. Whether we find that a species is successfully pollinated by many types of animals or only by specific pollinators will have conservation implications. In the former scenario, the loss of animals may decrease plant reproductive success. However, in the later case, the loss of specific pollinators my result in the loss of a plant species.