Evolutionary and Functional Analysis of Variation in Pollen Traits for the Common Morning Glory, Ipomoea Purpurea

大多数植物都能够通过雄性（花粉）和雌性（种子）功能进行繁殖。在自然种群中，个体的繁殖成功或适应性是由繁殖的雄性和雌性成分的变化决定的。生物学家对女性健康的变化了解很多，但对男性健康或导致男性健康变化的原因知之甚少。该项目的目标是通过检查植物产生的花粉的数量和大小来研究雄性生殖成功的变化，这两个特征与雄性生殖成功密切相关。该项目将使用一种机械的方法来研究产生少量大花粉粒的植物与产生许多小颗粒的植物的相对成功性，使用普通的牵牛花作为模型系统。这项研究的结果将有助于填补差距在我们的知识是什么原因在男性健身的变化，并最终提高我们的理解是什么原因在健身的自然种群的植物一般。该项目的成果有可能超越植物的基础生物学。例如，提高我们对花粉性状和一般植物活力之间相关性的理解将使我们能够改进农业中的选择性育种实践，从而能够开发增强的育种计划。该项目还将培训研究生和本科生，他们将学习实验技术和统计分析。

Most plants are capable of reproducing through both male (pollen) and female (seed) functions. The reproductive success, or fitness, of individuals in natural populations is determined by variation in both the male and female components of reproduction. Biologists know a lot about variation in female fitness but very little is known about male fitness or what can cause male fitness to vary. The goal of this project is to study variation in male reproductive success by examining the number and size of pollen produced by plants, two traits that are closely related to male reproductive success. This project will use a mechanistic approach to examine the relative success of plants that produce a few, large pollen grains versus those that produce many, small grains using the common morning glory as a model system. The results of this study will help to fill the gap in our knowledge on what causes variation in male fitness and will ultimately improve our understanding of what causes variation in fitness in natural populations of plants in general. Results from this project have the potential to go beyond the basic biology of plants. For example, improving our understanding about the correlation between pollen traits and general plant vigor will allow us to improve on selective breeding practices in agriculture, enabling the development of enhanced breeding programs. This project will also train graduate and undergraduate students who will learn experimental techniques and statistical analyses.