Nectary development, structure and function in relation to angiosperm reproductive biology

我的研究计划强调开花植物生殖生物学的花卉特征-特别是花蜜腺的结构和功能-导致吸引各种游客到花。因此，我们调查了授粉的许多生物媒介(昆虫、鸟类、蝙蝠和其他动物)的主要花卉食物来源(花蜜)的产生，从而为地球上已知的最重要和最古老的动植物相互作用之一奠定了基础。由于这种授粉活动导致人类饮食中无数农业和园艺水果和种子的有性繁殖，加上在地球上大多数生物群中繁殖几个非农业物种，花蜜和产生花蜜的小腺体(蜜腺)对于确保世界各地健康、营养充分的人类的饮食需求至关重要。与此同时，许多国家依赖蜂蜜作为甜味剂，并将其作为珍贵的天然食物来源，直接从蜜蜂采集的花蜜中提取。因此，在这一领域进行的与人类粮食生产如此相关的研究将继续每天提供好处。 在本申请中提出的项目中，我们将研究花基上这些小的分泌花蜜的腺体的结构成分与这些结构特征的功能作用之间的几个基本关系，这些结构特征最终导致花蜜是如何产生和排出到外部的，从而使其可供访花动物使用。这里描述的大多数项目都涉及进入蜜腺内部的不同类型的维管组织，以及这些维管组织所起的作用，从而导致花蜜的产生。植物中的维管组织可能类似于你所坐的大楼里的管道系统。因为花蜜是一种液体，我们希望了解不同类型的管道(植物体内的木质部和韧皮部)对花蜜产品的最终浓度和数量的贡献。由于许多动物避免收集稀释的花蜜，这项研究将有助于我们了解丰富的花蜜对觅食动物具有吸引力，然后这些动物可能会成为几种重要农作物的忠实传粉者。

My research program emphasizes floral features of the reproductive biology of flowering plants - especially the structure and function of floral nectaries - leading to the attraction of a variety of visitors to flowers. Thus, we investigate production of the main floral food source (nectar) of many biotic agents (insects, birds, bats and other animals) of pollination, and hence the foundation for one of the most important and oldest plant-animal interactions known on earth. Because this pollinating activity leads to the sexual reproduction of countless agricultural and horticultural varieties of fruits and seeds for mankind's diet, plus results in the propagation of several non-agricultural species in most of earth's biomes, floral nectar and the diminutive glands (nectaries) that produce it are extremely significant for securing the dietary demands of a healthy, sufficiently-nourished human population across the world. At the same time, many nations rely on honey as a sweetener and as a prized, natural source of food derived directly from nectar collected by honey bees. Thus, research undertaken in this field so relevant to human food production will continue to provide benefits, on a daily basis. In the projects proposed in this application, we shall examine several basic relationships between the structural components of these small nectar-secreting glands at the flower base and the functional role of these structural characteristics that lead eventually to how nectar is produced and expelled to the exterior, thus making it available to flower-visiting animals. Most projects described here concern the different types of vascular tissue that enter the nectary interior and the role that this vascular tissue plays, leading to nectar production. Vascular tissue in plants is perhaps analogous to the plumbing system located in the building you are seated in. Because nectar is a fluid, we desire to understand the contribution of different types of plumbing (called xylem and phloem, in the plant body) to the final concentration and quantity of the product, nectar. Because many animals avoid collecting dilute nectar, this research will assist our understanding about production of rich nectar attractive to foraging animals that then may serve as loyal pollinators of several important crop plants.