PYI: Plasticity, Gene Flow, and Differentials in Plant Reproductive Fitness

这项为期五年的总统青年研究员奖将允许新墨西哥大学的黛安·L·马歇尔博士在她的科学研究中保持高生产率的活动水平。在进化生态学框架内，她继续研究植物种群生物学。她的主要工作是研究植物繁殖和适合度的变异模式(“适合度”一词指的是繁殖成功和自然选择带来的相对差异效应)。在过去的几年里，野生萝卜一直是研究与植物交配系统有关的问题(即授粉、性选择和父子关系)的研究对象。结果表明，花粉捐献者的遗传身份以及不同花粉接受者的反应不同，都会产生影响。这项工作对量化植物中的基因流动做出了重要贡献。未来与另一个物种的合作将把塞维莱塔长期生态研究地点的实地工作与温室结果结合起来。除了这项工作，还有对豆科植物Sesbiana所做的工作。最近的研究表明，该物种在应对水分或营养限制等胁迫时表现出可塑性，而种子大小只是产量反应的几个组成部分之一。未来的研究将记录一系列栖息地类型和植物物种对塑料反应的性质。除了允许扩大植物次生化学变异及其与植物人口学和食草动物压力之间的联系的试点研究之外，该奖项还将保证马歇尔博士能够通过开发使用限制性片段长度多态的较新、更强大的技术来补充她对电泳技术的掌握，例如“DNA指纹分析”。

This five-year Presidential Young Investigator Award will permit Dr. Diane L. Marshall of the University of New Mexico to maintain a highly productive activity level in her scientific research. Within an evolutionary ecology framework, she is continuing studies of plant population biology. Her principal work examines patterns of variation in plant reproduction and fitness (the term "fitness" refers to reproductive success and the relative differential effects brought about by natural selection). For the past several years, the wild radish, Raphanus sativus, has been the subject species of interest for exploring questions pertaining to plant mating systems (i.e., pollination, sexual selection, and paternity). Results demonstrate effects due to genetic identity of pollen donors, as well as variable responses on the part of individual pollen recipients. This work has been an important contribution in quantifying gene flow in plants. Future endeavors with another species will combine field work at the Sevilleta Long- Term Ecological Research site with greenhouse results. Apart from this work is that which has been done on a legume, Sesbiana. Recent investigations reveal that this species shows plasticity in response to stresses such as water or nutrient limitations, and that seed size is only one of several components of yield response. Future research will document the nature of plastic responses across a range of habitat types and plant species. Beyond allowing expansion of pilot studies of variation in plant secondary chemistry and its linkages to plant demography and herbivore pressure, this award will also guarantee that Dr. Marshall is able to supplement her mastery of electrophoretic techniques by developing expertise in the newer, more powerful ones such as "DNA fingerprinting," using restriction fragment length polymorphisms.