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

论文研究：功能特征具有适应性吗？

• 批准号: 1601095
• 负责人: Kent Holsinger
• 金额: $ 1.79万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-06-01 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1601095&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; research; functional; traits; adaptive

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.

衡量植物形式如何影响其工作方式的一种方法是衡量植物形式的特定方面与其性能之间的关系。尽管在所有植物之间都发现了植物特征之间的一致权衡以及这些特征与环境之间的一致关系，但我们不知道特定位置中较小群体的这些权衡和关系的形式。该项目将使用植物属Protea研究世界上环境多样的地区的功能性状。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特征与环境之间的区域关系联系起来。它将有助于生态学，系统发育学和进化领域，并为研究植物功能性状的研究提供新的背景和潜在的新方向。此外，该项目包括对研究生和本科生的培训，中学生和高中生的指导以及在线教育材料的发展。尽管基于特质的生态学是一个巨大的研究领域，但很少关注这些生态上重要的特征如何发展或对它们基础的遗传结构的发展。这项研究将将遗传分析与田间和温室观测结合在一起，以探讨环境适应在塑造植物功能性状中的作用。该项目将使用先进的技术来检查个体之间的DNA差异，并揭示两个不同蛋白质物种之间杂种区中个体差异的遗传学。正在进行基于密集的，微地理领域采样和种子收集的操纵干燥实验，以确定特征环境模式的规模，并确定在混合区域中易生裂过滤的机制。从限制位点相关的DNA测序（RADSEQ）得出的单核苷酸多态性（SNP）数据将用于生态上重要特征的映射。后代阵列的孕产妇杂种估计将优化对收集材料的克林的特征环境关系的分析。