Genetic Basis of Plant Interactions

现在很明显，自然种群拥有更多的 遗传变异比开始前预期的 20年前的电泳研究。 理论工作有 澄清了哪些过程可能对 维持如此巨大的遗传变异，但 还没有足够的实验工作来证明实际的 在许多不寻常的案例中。 拟议 研究将调查一种特殊机制的重要性， 维持遗传变异的过程： 选择结合遗传变异， 环境反应。 特别是， 个体植物的遗传变异 将记录邻近植物的密度和组成。 这些研究将允许预测对选择的反应 在不同的生物环境下。 这样的预测， 与选择实验中观察到的反应相比。 因为生物环境中的自然变异 在野生种群中普遍存在，这些研究的结果可能 影响到局部变化的普遍重要性， 选择. 这项工作的重点物种包括一个本地 还有一个引进的物种 因此，该系统可以用作 模型，用于阐明 外来物种入侵到野生群落后， 可以提供深入了解的方法，以提高成功的 当地社区遵循这样的介绍。

It is now evident that natural populations harbor far more genetic variation than was expected prior to initiation of electrophoretic studies 20 years ago. Theoretical work has clarified what processes may potentially be responsible for the maintenance of such vast stores of genetic variation, but there has been insufficient experimental work to demonstrate the actual mechanisms in more than a few unusual cases. The proposed studies will investigate the importance of a particular mechanism for maintaining genetic variation: the process of locally varying selection in conjunction with genetically based variation in environmental response. In particular, the magnitude and nature of genetic variation of individual plants in response to the density and composition of neighboring plants will be documented. These studies will permit prediction of the response to selection under differing biotic environments. Such predictions will be compared with observed responses in selection experiments. Because natural variation in the biotic environment is ubiquitous in wild populations, the findings of these studies may have bearing on the general importance of locally varying selection. The focal species for this work include one native and one introduced species. This system may therefore serve as a model for elucidating the evolution of interactions between species following invasions of exotics into wild communities and may provide insights into methods for enhancing the success of native communities following such introductions.