The Role of Natural Selection in Plant Speciation: A Test of the Reinforcement Hypothesis in Clarkia

自然选择在植物物种形成中的作用：克拉克强化假说的检验

• 批准号: 1025004
• 负责人: David Moeller
• 金额: $ 49.54万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1025004&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Role; Natural; Selection; Plant; Speciation

One of the most difficult problems in biology is identifying the mechanisms causing individuals to differentiate leading to new species. One barrier to the formation of new species is subsequent hybridization of differentiated individuals. The goal of this study is to examine the processes in nature that contribute to barriers of hybridization, including both barriers that prevent hybrids from being formed (pre-mating isolation) and the causes of poor hybrid performance in the field (post-mating isolation). The work will be conducted on two closely-related plant taxa in the genus Clarkia that are in the very early stages of speciation, providing a unique opportunity to understand evolutionary processes in action that cause species formation. The proposed project uses large manipulative experiments in the field and the genotyping of DNA markers in the laboratory to examine hybridization and its consequences. This research provides important insight into the origin of earth's biodiversity, which is critical for understanding how species will respond to climate change and what will be required to conserve them. Much more is currently understood about the relationships (systematics) of species and how they differ at the genetic level than the ecological processes that caused them to diverge from one another. Finally, funding will be used to train post-doctoral and undergraduate scientists in both genetic and ecological research.

生物学中最困难的问题之一是确定导致个体分化并产生新物种的机制。新物种形成的一个障碍是分化个体随后的杂交。本研究的目的是研究自然界中导致杂交障碍的过程，包括阻止杂交形成的障碍（交配前隔离）和田间杂交表现不佳的原因（交配后隔离）。这项工作将在克拉克属的两个密切相关的植物分类群上进行，它们处于物种形成的早期阶段，为了解导致物种形成的进化过程提供了一个独特的机会。提议的项目使用现场的大型操作实验和实验室的DNA标记基因分型来检查杂交及其后果。这项研究为了解地球生物多样性的起源提供了重要的见解，这对于了解物种如何应对气候变化以及如何保护它们至关重要。目前，人们对物种之间的关系（系统学）以及它们在遗传水平上的差异的了解远远多于导致它们彼此分化的生态过程。最后，资金将用于培养遗传学和生态学研究方面的博士后和本科生科学家。