Evolutionary and Functional Analysis of Variation in Pollen Traits for the Common Morning Glory, Ipomoea Purpurea

大多数植物能够通过雄性（花粉）和雌性（种子）两种功能进行繁殖。自然种群中个体的繁殖成功或适应性是由生殖中雄性和雌性成分的变异决定的。生物学家对女性的适应性变化了解很多，但对男性的适应性以及导致男性适应性变化的原因知之甚少。该项目的目标是通过检查植物产生的花粉的数量和大小来研究雄性繁殖成功的变化，这两个性状与雄性繁殖成功密切相关。该项目将使用一种机械方法，以常见的牵牛花作为模型系统，来检验产生少量大花粉粒的植物与产生大量小花粉粒的植物的相对成功程度。这项研究的结果将有助于填补我们对导致雄性适应度变化的原因的知识空白，并最终提高我们对导致植物自然种群适应度变化的原因的理解。这个项目的结果有可能超越植物的基本生物学。例如，提高我们对花粉性状与一般植物活力之间相关性的理解，将使我们能够改进农业中的选择性育种实践，从而使育种计划得以发展。该项目还将培养研究生和本科生，他们将学习实验技术和统计分析。

Most plants are capable of reproducing through both male (pollen) and female (seed) functions. The reproductive success, or fitness, of individuals in natural populations is determined by variation in both the male and female components of reproduction. Biologists know a lot about variation in female fitness but very little is known about male fitness or what can cause male fitness to vary. The goal of this project is to study variation in male reproductive success by examining the number and size of pollen produced by plants, two traits that are closely related to male reproductive success. This project will use a mechanistic approach to examine the relative success of plants that produce a few, large pollen grains versus those that produce many, small grains using the common morning glory as a model system. The results of this study will help to fill the gap in our knowledge on what causes variation in male fitness and will ultimately improve our understanding of what causes variation in fitness in natural populations of plants in general. Results from this project have the potential to go beyond the basic biology of plants. For example, improving our understanding about the correlation between pollen traits and general plant vigor will allow us to improve on selective breeding practices in agriculture, enabling the development of enhanced breeding programs. This project will also train graduate and undergraduate students who will learn experimental techniques and statistical analyses.