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

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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.