Collaborative Research: Population Genetic and Demographic Consequences of Seed Dispersal.

绝大多数植物的种子都经过了改造， 扩散，远离母体植物的运动。 的格局 种子的传播有可能影响植物的生存， 植物个体和植物种群的特征。 由于植物一旦扎根就无法移动， 植物作为种子分散到其中， 它的生存。 种子传播的模式也影响空间分布。 基因相关的个体。 这种空间 基因结构对植物有重要影响 人口 研究人员将记录种子传播的影响 对植物命运和种群遗传结构的影响， 种子在自然种群中的移动和随后的存活， 利用当地野花延龄草的种子传播 grandiflorum，由蚂蚁作为模型系统。 种子将被标记 有一个无线电标签，将允许他们重新安置后， 通过蚂蚁或其他动物传播。 的存活和生长 由分散的和未分散的种子产生的植物将被 跟踪了3年。 植物的遗传特性 使用电泳测定。 为了记录 在空间遗传结构的发展中， 研究人群的遗传结构将在 植物生命周期的四个阶段：未分散的种子， 分散的种子、幼苗和成年植物。 本研究结果对保护具有一定的参考价值 参与保护或恢复的生物学家 植物在自然栖息地。 的理解 种子传播对植物存活的影响对于这种 努力 这项研究还将探讨种子的重要性 种群遗传进化中的动物扩散 结构和维持种群遗传多样性， 两个因素可能对长期保护很重要 可行的人口。

The vast majority of all plants have seeds modified for dispersal, movement away from the parent plant. The pattern of seed dispersal has the potential to affect both the survival of individual plants and characteristics of plant populations. Since plants are immobile once rooted, the quality of the site into which a plant is dispersed as a seed has a major effect on its survival. Patterns of seed dispersal also affect the spatial arrangement of genetically related individuals. This spatial genetic structure has important consequences for the plant population. The investigators wil document the effects of seed dispersal on plant fate and population genetic structure by following the movement and subsequent survival of seeds in natural populations, using the dispersal of seeds of the native wildflower, Trillium grandiflorum, by ants as a model system. Seeds will be marked with a radio label that will allow them to be relocated after dispersal by ants or other animals. The survival and growth of plants resulting from dispersed and undispersed seeds will be followed for 3 years. The genetic identity of plants will be determined using electrophoresis. In order to document the role of dispersal in the development of spatial genetic structure, the genetic structure of the study population will be determined at four stages of the plant life cycle: undispersed seeds, dispersed seeds, seedlings, and adult plants. The results of this study will be of a value to conservation biologists involved in the preservation or restoration of plants in their natural habitats. An understanding of the effects of seed dispersal on plant survival is critical to such efforts. This study will also explore the importance of seed dispersal by animals in the development of population genetic structure and in the maintenance of population genetic diversity, two factors that may be important in the long-term conservation of viable populations.