Dissertation Research: Can Vegetative Reproduction Explain the Abundance of Understory Shrubs in Tropical Forests?

物种间更新需求的差异一直是解释热带森林物种多样性的研究热点。然而，大多数研究都集中在有性繁殖的再生策略上，而忽视了营养繁殖的贡献。尽管已经认识到各种热带植物物种具有营养繁殖的潜力，但自然种群中不同繁殖模式的实际频率仍然未知。营养繁殖对于种子补充成功率低的小种子林下物种来说是一个特别重要的再生途径。本研究的主要目的是确定营养繁殖在热带矮灌木物种更新中的相对作用，并从遗传多样性和交配机会的角度评估这种繁殖模式的后果。植物将被绘制出来，它们的遗传指纹之间的相似性将被用来区分无性系和田间遗传不同的个体。结合遗传和空间数据，我将能够确定克隆的分散和种群中有性繁殖和营养繁殖的建立频率。这项研究将提高我们对热带生态的理解，如殖民、招募、基因流动、人口统计学和遗传学。这项资助将为一名巴拿马女科学家提供分子技术培训。此外，包含单个植物地理位置的遗传信息数据库将提供给研究界，以解决无数的生态和进化问题，在这些问题中，了解植物之间的基因型和遗传关系是必不可少的。

Differences in regeneration requirements among species have been the focus of research to explain the high species diversity of tropical forest. However, most studies have concentrated on regeneration strategies related to sexual reproduction, neglecting the contribution of vegetative propagation Even though it has been recognized that a variety of tropical plant species have the potential to reproduce vegetatively, the actual frequency of different modes of reproduction in natural populations remains unknown. Vegetative reproduction can be a particularly important regeneration pathway for small-seeded understory species that have low recruitment success from seeds. The primary goal of this proposal is to determine the relative role that vegetative reproduction plays in the regeneration of species of tropical understory shrubs, and to evaluate the consequences of this mode of reproduction in terms of genetic diversity and mating opportunities. Plants will be mapped and similarities among their genetic fingerprints will be used to distinguish the clones from the genetically distinct individuals in the field. Combining the genetic and the spatial data I will be able to determine dispersion of clones and the frequency of establishment by sexual and vegetative reproduction in the population. This study will improve our understanding of tropical ecology in areas such as colonization, recruitment, gene flow, and population demography and genetics. The support of this grant will provide training in molecular techniques for a Panamanian woman scientist. Furthermore, the database of genetic information, with the geographic locations of individual plants will be made available to the research community to address a myriad of ecological and evolutionary questions, where knowledge of the genotypes and genetic relationships among plants is essential.