The ecological and evolutionary consequences of plant modularity

我的研究调查了植物模块化的进化和生态后果。“模块化”描述了植物的生长方式：与大多数动物不同，植物通过重复结构的反复生产来生长，例如茎上反复生产叶子或花，或者在克隆中重复生产整个个体。即使植物的许多模块共享一组基因，它们也不是彼此相同的副本。例如，花的大小通常会因花而异，其他重复的特征也是如此。我和我的学生试图了解模块化和模块之间的变化如何影响植物与环境以及彼此之间的相互作用方式。特别是，我们要问(1)植物内部花的变化是否有利于植物的生存和繁殖？(2)花之间的变异程度能否通过自然选择进化（例如，花大小的变异能否以与平均花大小相同的方式进化）？(3)在一个克隆中产生多个个体（和多朵花）如何影响同一克隆的花之间的交配频率？为了回答这些问题，我们研究了两种植物物种（都是加拿大本土的），结合了自然种群的实地调查、温室实验和实验室分析。我们发现的答案将提高我们对模块化（植物的基本特征）如何使植物适应和限制植物适应的理解，而这些知识反过来对预测植物对变化的世界的反应也很重要。我们的工作（特别是问题3）也将为多年生和无性系植物的进化过程提供见解，这一群体在加拿大的植物群中占主导地位，但历史上受到进化生物学家的关注少于一年生植物。

My research investigates the evolutionary and ecological consequences of plant modularity. “Modularity” describes the ways plants grow: unlike most animals, plants grow through the iterative production of repeated structures, such as the repeated production of leaves or flowers on a stem, or the repeated production of entire individuals within a clone. Even though the many modules of a plant share a single set of genes, they are not identical copies of one another. Flower size, for example, typically varies from flower-to-flower on a plant, as do other repeated traits. My students and I seek to understand how modularity, and variation among modules, affects the ways in which plants interact with their environment and with each other. In particular, we ask (1) is variation among the flowers within a plant beneficial to plant survival and reproduction?, (2) can the magnitude of variation among flowers evolve through natural selection (e.g., can variation in flower size evolve in the same way that average flower size evolves)?, and (3) how does the production of multiple individuals (and multiple flowers) within a clone affect the frequency of mating between the flowers of the same clone? To answer these questions, we study two plant species (both native to Canada) using a combination of fieldwork in natural populations, greenhouse experiments, and lab analyses. The answers we uncover will improve our understanding of how modularity – a fundamental plant character – enables and constrains plant adaptation, and this knowledge in turn will be important to anticipating plant responses to a changing word. Our work (particularly question 3) will also provide insight into evolutionary processes in perennial and clonal plants, a group dominates Canada's flora, but has historically received less attention from evolutionary biologists than annual plants.