The evolution of floral design and display in animal-pollinated plants

花决定了动物授粉植物的交配机会，因为授粉者在花和植物之间运输雄性配子（花粉）。 我对花卉进化的研究考虑了花卉设计，单个花卉的特征，以及花卉展示，所有花卉在植物上展示的综合效果。 首先，我将调查花内的花展示（福禄考科）的演变。 叶绿体序列数据将完善我早期的Polemonium系统发育。然后，我将比较花的大小，花的数量和花序结构之间的变化Polemonium物种和相关属内具有良好的解决aprogenies。 很少有研究探讨物种之间花展示的进化变化，这些研究都没有考虑植物的大小或生长季节，这两个因素影响了开花的资源。 其次，我将评估如何在传粉者（天蛾和蜂鸟）的变化影响花设计的选择在Polemonium brandegei。 我将把植物的人工种群分别暴露给每种传粉者，并研究花的性状和适合度之间的关系，即，播种和繁殖成功。 育种成功率将采用AFLP扩增片段长度多态性估计的遗传指纹来衡量。 第三，我将研究花的设计，传粉者的身份，以及周围的社区的奖励花影响繁殖成功和两种女士的拖鞋兰，Cypripedium之间的杂交。引起杂交率变化的机制对于大多数物种来说还不清楚，并且还没有在Cypripedium中进行过研究。 在Cypridium中，在陷阱样花中的传粉者进入和离开路线的尺寸可能决定哪些昆虫是有效的传粉者，并且花群落可能影响哪些昆虫存在。 这些研究目标将有助于我的长期目标，了解花卉展示的进化，以及传粉者的变化如何影响花卉设计的选择，以及物种之间的生殖隔离。

Flowers determine mating opportunities in animal-pollinated plants because pollinators transport male gametes (pollen) between flowers and plants. My research on floral evolution considers floral design, the characteristics of individual flowers, and floral display, the combined effects of all flowers displayed on a plant. First, I will investigate the evolution of floral display within the Polemoniaceae (Phlox family). Chloroplast sequence data will refine my earlier phylogeny of Polemonium. I will then compare changes in flower size, flower number, and inflorescence architecture among Polemonium species and within related genera with well-resolved phylogenies. Few studies have examined evolutionary changes in floral display among species, and none of these have considered plant size or growing season, two factors that affect the resources available for flowering. Second, I will assess how variation in pollinators (hawkmoth and hummingbirds) affects selection on floral design in Polemonium brandegei. I will expose artificial populations of plants to each pollinator separately, and examine relationships between floral traits and fitness, i.e., seed set and siring success. Siring success will be measured using genetic fingerprints estimated with AFLP's, amplified fragment length polymorphisms. Third, I will study how floral design, pollinator identity, and the surrounding community of rewarding flowers affect reproductive successs and hybridization between two species of lady's slipper orchid, Cypripedium. The mechanisms causing variation in hybridization rates are not well understood for most species, and have not been investigated in Cypripedium. In Cypripedium, dimensions of pollinator entry and exit routes in the trap-like flowers may determine which insects are effective pollinators, and the floral community likely affects which insects are present. These research objectives will contribute to my long term goals of understanding the evolution of floral display, and how variation in pollinators affects selection on floral design, and reproductive isolation between species.