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，植物通过重复生产重复的结构来生长，例如在茎上重复生产叶子或花，或者在克隆内重复生产整个个体。即使植物的许多模块共享一组基因，它们也不是彼此的完全相同的副本。例如，植物的花的大小通常因花的不同而不同，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差异如何影响植物与环境和彼此相互作用的方式。特别是，我们问(1)植物内花之间的变异是否有利于植物的生存和繁殖？(2)花间变异的大小是否可以通过自然选择来进化(例如，花大小的变异能否以与平均花大小进化相同的方式进化)？以及(3)克隆内多个个体(和多个花)的产生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(都是加拿大本土的)，采用自然种群的田野调查、温室实验和实验室分析相结合的方法。我们发现的答案将提高我们对模块化--植物的一个基本特征--如何使植物适应和限制植物适应的理解，而这一知识反过来对预测植物对变化的词语的反应将是重要的。我们的工作(特别是问题3)也将为多年生和克隆植物的进化过程提供洞察，这是一个在加拿大植物区系中占主导地位的类群，但历史上受到进化生物学家的关注比一年生植物少。

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.