Dissertation research: Are functional traits adaptive? Dissecting the evolutionary dynamics of plant functional traits

衡量植物形态如何影响其工作方式的一种方法是衡量植物形态的特定方面与其表现之间的关系。虽然在所有植物中都发现了植物性状之间的一致权衡，以及这些特性与环境之间的一致关系，但我们不知道特定地点较小群体的这些权衡和关系的形式。这个项目将使用植物Protea来研究世界上一个环境多样化地区的功能特征。该项目还将确定这些权衡和关系的遗传基础。该项目将通过实验操作和先进的遗传技术将性状和环境之间的区域关系联系起来。它将为生态学、系统发育和进化领域做出贡献，并为植物功能性状的研究提供新的背景和潜在的新方向。此外，该项目还包括对研究生和本科生的培训，对初中生和高中生的指导，以及开发在线教育材料。尽管基于特征的生态学是一个巨大的研究领域，但很少有人关注这些生态上重要的特征是如何进化的，或者它们背后的遗传结构。这项研究将把遗传分析与田间和温室观察相结合，以探索环境适应在塑造植物功能性状中的作用。这个项目将使用先进的技术来检查个体之间的DNA差异，并揭示两个不同的Protea物种之间杂交区域中个体差异的遗传学。正在进行一项基于密集的微地理实地采样和种子收集的操纵性干燥试验，以确定性状-环境模式的规模，并确定杂交区生态位过滤的潜在机制。从限制性内切酶相关DNA测序(RADseq)获得的单核苷酸多态(SNP)数据将被用于生态重要性状的关联图谱。将评估后代阵列的母体杂交度，以改进收集材料所在的斜坡上的性状与环境关系的分析。

One way to measure how a plant's form influences how it works is to measure the relationship between specific aspects of the plant's form and its performance. Although consistent tradeoffs among plant traits and consistent relationships between those traits and the environment are found among all plants, we do not know the form of those trade-offs and relationships for smaller groups in specific locations. This project will use the plant genus Protea to investigate functional traits in an environmentally diverse region of the world. The project will also determine the genetic bases for those trade-offs and relationships. This project will connect regional relationships between traits and the environment with experimental manipulations and advanced genetic techniques. It will contribute to the fields of ecology, phylogenetics, and evolution, and provide a new context and potentially new directions to the study of plant functional traits. Additionally, the project includes the training of graduate and undergraduate students, the mentoring of middle and high school students, and the development of online educational materials. Although trait-based ecology is a huge field of study, little attention has been paid to how these ecologically important traits have evolved or to the genetic architecture underlying them. This research will integrate genetic analyses with field and greenhouse observations to explore the role of environmental adaptation in shaping plant functional traits. This project will use advanced techniques to examine DNA differences among individuals and to unravel the genetics of individual differences in a hybrid zone between two different Protea species. A manipulative dry-down experiment based on intensive, microgeographic field sampling and collection of seeds is being performed to determine the scale of trait-environment patterns and to identify mechanisms underlying niche filtering in the hybrid zone. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data derived from restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) will be used for association mapping of ecologically important traits. Maternal hybridity from offspring arrays will be estimated to refine analyses of trait-environment relationships along the cline from which the material is collected.