Ecology and Evolution of Plant Reproduction

约30万种开花植物表现出显著的生殖适应多样性，从雌雄同体到两性生殖的有性系统，从完全自花受精到完全异花受精的交配系统，以及似乎无限多样的花卉设计和展示。这种多样性源于植物在生殖努力、雌性和雄性的相对分配、潜在配偶的特征以及与花粉和种子传播者的相互作用方面可用的各种选择。 在这项申请中，我建议用几组独立的项目来研究生殖功能的三个方面。1)三个项目涉及可能限制个体植物年度种子产量的几个因素(授粉不足、花粉质量和种子生产资源)以及可减轻其影响的机制(不确定的开花和多年生植物)。2)四个项目审查了自然选择在创造植物生殖多样性方面的两个未被充分认识的方面：生殖表型的动态、镶嵌性质；以及共性和稀有性在数量性状进化中的影响。3)三个项目探索了开花植物中广泛存在的一夫多妻制对交配成功、种子生产和植物后代在异质环境中存活的不同影响。这些项目从互补的角度处理对植物生殖多样性的影响，从特定性状的功能到自然选择的运作。这种以假设为导向的研究包括了解决旧问题的新方法，并将以前未探索的主题暴露在尖锐的探究中。除了这些对了解开花植物生殖功能和多样性的基本贡献外，这项研究还将培养至少8名研究生科学家，并为至少10名本科生提供研究经验。

The ~300,000 species of flowering plants exhibit remarkable diversity of reproductive adaptations, with sexual systems ranging from dioecy to hermaphroditism, mating systems ranging from complete self-fertilization to complete cross-fertilization, and seemingly limitless variety of floral design and display. This diversity arises from the variety of options available to plants with respect to reproductive effort, relative allocation to femaleness and maleness, characteristics of potential mates, and interaction with pollen and seed dispersers. In this application I propose to research three aspects of reproductive function with sets of independent projects. 1) Three projects address several factors that can limit annual seed production by individual plants (insufficient pollination, pollen quality and resources for seed production) and mechanisms that can mitigate their effects (indeterminate flowering and perenniality). 2) Four projects examine two under-appreciated aspects of the operation of natural selection in creating reproductive diversity of plants: the dynamic, mosaic nature of reproductive phenotypes; and the influence of commonness and rarity in the evolution of quantitative traits. 3) Three projects explore the consequences of widespread polygamy among flowering plants for differential success of mates, seed production and the survival of a plant's offspring in heterogeneous environments. These projects address influences on the reproductive diversity of plants from complementary perspectives ranging from the function of specific traits to the operation of natural selection. This hypothesis-driven research includes new approaches to old problems and exposes previously unexplored subjects to incisive inquiry. In addition to these fundamental contributions to understanding of reproductive function and diversity of flowering plants, this research will educate at least 8 post-graduate scientists and provide research experience for at least 10 undergraduate students.