REU: Using Mathematical Models of Pollinator Movement and Pollen Deposition to Predict Gene Flow in Plants

昆虫传粉植物花粉传播的空间格局既影响植物的繁殖成功率，也影响新基因或引进基因在植物群体中的传播速度。然而，目前还缺乏结合传粉者运动和花粉沉积信息对花粉传播进行定量预测的能力。该研究将利用传粉者运动和花粉沉积的偏微分方程模型，开发定量预测植物基因流动的工具。以油菜及其三种主要传粉昆虫为研究对象，开展了植物空间布局对传粉昆虫运动行为影响的田间试验。这些实验的结果将用于建立昆虫运动的P.D.E.模型。另外的实验将利用一个标记基因来测量传粉者访问一系列芥菜植物时花粉沉积的速率。最后，结合昆虫运动和花粉沉积的信息，生成各种植物排列的花粉沉积模式。预期的模式将与在野外实验中观察到的一个标记基因的扩散进行比较。华盛顿大学的Peter Kareiva和Robin Manasse说。本研究结果对了解遗传邻域的空间结构和植物密度分散对植物繁殖成功的影响，预测和控制引种基因的传播具有重要意义。

The spatial pattern of pollen dispersal in insect-pollinated plants affects both plant reproductive success and the rate at which novel or introduced genes will spread through plant populations. Currently however, there is a lack of ability to combine information about pollinator movement and pollen deposition to make quantitative predictions about pollen dispersal. The proposed research will develop quantitative tools for predicting gene flow in plants using partial differential equation (P.D.E.) models of pollinator movement and pollen deposition. Field experiments designed to measure the effect of plant spatial arrangement on pollinator movement behavior will be conducted using the mustard Brassica campestris and its three major insect pollinators. The results of these experiments will then be used to build P.D.E. models of insect movement. Additional experiments will utilize a marker gene to measure the rate of pollen deposition as pollinators visit a sequence of mustard plants. Finally, information about insect movement and pollen deposition will be integrated to generate expected pollen deposition patterns for a variety of plant arrangements. The expected patterns will be compared to the observed dispersal of a marker gene in field experiments conducted by Drs. Peter Kareiva and Robin Manasse at the University of Washington. The results of this study will be important in understanding the spatial structure of genetic neighborhoods and the effect of plant density dispersion on plant reproductive success, and in predicting and controlling the spread of introduced genes.