DISSERATION RESEARCH: Evolution of development of the progamic phase in Nymphaeales

被子植物的一个决定性特征是花，花在外观和发育方式上都有很大的差异。花的多样性可能源于它们吸引花粉和/或传粉者的作用。与此同时，花还必须允许花粉发芽，形成一个兼容的花粉管，将精子运送到卵子。尽管授粉必须在花粉管生长之前发生，但人们对传粉者吸引力的进化变化与花粉管生长到受精之后发生的事件之间的关系知之甚少。本研究采用自然授粉和人工授粉实验来描述睡莲（睡莲）的受精生物学，睡莲是一个具有多种花朵和授粉机制的类群。然后，这些数据将用于将花形态的进化变化与授粉后的生物学联系起来。该奖项的具体目标是收集来自Trithuria（水合植物科）的数据，这是一种很小且鲜为人知的澳大拉西亚植物，与其他睡莲有很大不同。睡莲代表了一个独立的开花植物谱系，它在1.25亿年前从其他被子植物中分离出来，因此比较生物学家对这个谱系中花和受精生物学的进化转变非常感兴趣。该项目为三名本科生和一名本地教育工作者提供了研究机会，并将为另外两名学生提供资金，以协助他们在澳大利亚进行实地考察和在美国进行实验室工作。它还促进了田纳西大学和西澳大利亚研究人员之间的合作。

Evolution of development of the progamic phase in NymphaealesA defining feature of angiosperms is the flower, and flowers are tremendously diverse in the way they look and develop. Much of the diversity of flowers may arise from their role in attracting pollen and/or pollinators. At the same time, flowers must also allow pollen to germinate and form a compatible pollen tube that carries sperm to egg. Although pollination has to occur before a pollen tube can grow, little is known about how evolutionary changes in pollinator attraction correlate with events that happen afterward from pollen tube growth to fertilization. This research uses natural- and hand-pollination experiments to describe fertilization biology in the water lilies (Nymphaeales), a group with diverse flowers and pollination mechanisms. Such data will then be used to correlate evolutionary changes in floral form with post-pollination biology. The specific goal of this award is to gather data from Trithuria (Hydatellaceae), a tiny and poorly understood Australasian plant that is remarkably different from other water lilies.The water lilies represent an independent flowering plant lineage that diverged from the rest of angiosperms over 125 million years ago, and so evolutionary transitions in floral and fertilization biology within this lineage are of great interest to comparative biologists. This project has provided research opportunities for three undergraduates and one local educator, and will provide funding for two additional students to assist with fieldwork in Australia and lab work in the USA. It also facilitates collaboration between University of Tennessee and Western Australian researchers.