The evolution of specialised orchid pollination and its reversibility

该项目旨在确定支撑授粉转变的关键花香挥发性化合物的变化，确定它们的分子基础，并了解有利于逆转极端专门化的生态过程。通过专注于性欺骗的澳大利亚兰花的授粉，该项目将首次确定在一组面临传粉者灭绝高风险的植物中，进化逆转为更普遍的策略的分子、化学和行为基础。预期的结果，即对授粉转换如何发生的机械性理解，将是国际上的开创性成果，并为保护这一多样化但受到高度威胁的植物群体提供关键的见解。

This project aims to determine the changes in key floral volatile compounds underpinning pollination transitions, identify their molecular basis, and understand the ecological processes favouring reversals away from extreme specialisation. By focusing on pollination of sexually deceptive Australian orchids, this project would be the first to determine the molecular, chemical and behavioural basis of evolutionary reversals to more generalised strategies in a group of plants facing high risk of pollinator extinction. The expected outcome, a mechanistic understanding of how pollination transitions occur, would be internationally ground-breaking, and provide crucial insights to protect this diverse but highly threatened group of plants.