RPG: The Influence of Clonal Reproduction on Population Sex Ratios in Plants

小行星9726931 许多植物的种群中雄性多于雌性， 亦然 在某些情况下，女性人数超过男性， 生殖已被观察到，并归因于这种低男性频率。 这项规划补助金旨在获取基线生态信息 这将支持一个完整的建议，研究1）性别特异性的原因， 克隆（无性）繁殖和2）这种繁殖对 人口中男性和女性的数量。 异鳞藓 透明叶，一种生长在其他植物的活叶上的小型热带植物。 植物物种将是重点试验物种。该物种生长在 短暂的基质;因此，个体必须殖民，生长和性或 无性繁殖迅速地在新的基质上定居。 的活动 这项研究计划包括：a）收集男性和 雌性植物（通过监测个体植物），B）确定原因 减少有性生殖（通过操纵雄性频率），c） 建立自然和实验室培养植物的规程 条件，和d）检测性别特异性DNA标记和克隆结构 在植物种群中。 该项目在三个主要研究领域具有广泛的科学意义 1)无性繁殖在减少种群中的作用 灭绝，2）男性之间的差异的原因和后果 无性生殖与其它植物的关系 生物体的特征（有性生殖、生长和存活）。 无性繁殖在进化研究中被很大程度上忽视了， 尽管克隆生长极大地影响了植物的生存。 一些克隆植物没有衰老的迹象，使得无性繁殖成为可能。 独特的、重要的生态和进化特征。 信息 在模拟性行为时， 比例模式和后果在其他植物物种， 很难研究。 最后，许多研究集中在资源分配上 （能量和营养）用于有性生殖、生长和生存。 无性繁殖很少被纳入这些研究，但大多数 生物体（动物、植物、真菌等）能够繁殖 无性繁殖 这项研究将有助于我们了解资源如何 分配给无性繁殖影响和受有性生殖的影响 繁殖、生长和生存。

9726931 McLetchie Many plants occur in populations where males outnumber females or vice versa. In some instances where females outnumber males, reduced sexual reproduction has been observed and attributed to this low male frequency. This planning grant is designed to obtain baseline ecological information that will support a full proposal to study 1) the causes of sex-specific clonal (asexual) reproduction and 2) the effects of this reproduction on the number of males and females in populations. Diplasiolejeunea pellucida, a small tropical plant that grows on living leaves of other plant species will be the focal test species. This species grows on a transient substrate; thus individuals must colonize, grow and sexually or asexually reproduce quickly to colonize new substrate. The activities planned in this study includes: a) collecting demographic data on male and female plants (by monitoring individual plants), b) determining the cause of reduced sexual reproduction (by manipulating male frequency), c) establishing protocols for culturing plants in natural and laboratory conditions, and d) detecting sex-specific DNA markers and clonal structure among plants in the population. This project has broad scientific importance in three main areas of study 1) the contribution of asexual reproduction in reducing population extinction, 2) the causes and consequences of the differences between male and female plants and 3) the relationships of asexual reproduction to other characteristics of the organism (sexual reproduction, growth and survival). Asexual reproduction has been largely ignored in evolutionary studies of plants despite the fact that clonal growth greatly influences survival. Some clonal plants show no sign of aging, making asexual reproduction a distinctive and important ecological and evolutionary trait. Information obtained on Diplasiolejeunea pellucida can be invaluable in modeling sex ratio patterns and consequence s in other plant species that are more difficult to study. Finally, many studies focus on allocation of resources (energy and nutrients) for sexual reproduction, growth and survival. Asexual reproduction is rarely incorporated into these studies yet most organisms (animals, plants, fungi and others) are able to reproduce asexually. This study will contribute to our knowledge of how resource allocation to asexual reproduction affects and is affected by sexual reproduction, growth and survival .