Collaborative Research: Components of Floral Attraction in a Functionally Specialized but Ecologically Generalized Flower Guild

这个项目研究了美国东南部早春盛开的带有恶臭红色花朵的植物。这些植物很有趣，因为它们似乎向传粉者传递同样的花香信息。这看起来像是一种花卉综合症（不相关的植物聚集在一个共同的外观或气味上，以吸引相同的，特定的传粉者），但有些事情是错误的：这些花吸引了一群以腐烂的有机物为食的普通昆虫作为传粉者。记录开花模式，游客和花卉特征的人口跨越三个东南部州将表征这种明显的综合征。本项目影响的本科生将完成所有阶段的科学课程以获得学分。学生将阅读相关文献和设计实验，设置实地图，收集和分析他们的数据。第二年春天，学生们将在东南生物学家协会上展示他们的研究结果。召开年会并提交发表。该项目启动了葡萄酒协会与GSU植物园的课程合作伙伴关系，将影响数千名K-12学校的儿童和他们的老师。这个户外课程提供授粉生物学的实践经验。孩子们将在植物园进行与研究人员在野外进行的实验基本相同的实验，提供科学过程的第一手经验，并对这种丰富的花卉遗产有更大的欣赏。

This project studies plants with foul-smelling red flowers that bloom in early spring in the southeastern U.S.A. These plants are intriguing because they appear to be sending the same floral message to pollinators. This looks like a floral syndrome (where unrelated plants converge on a common appearance or odor to lure the same, specific pollinators) BUT something is amiss: these flowers attract as pollinators a guild of generalized insects that feed on decaying organic matter. Documenting blooming patterns, visitors, and floral characteristics in populations across three southeastern states will characterize this apparent syndrome. This project impacts undergraduates who will perform all stages of science for academic credit. Students will read relevant literature and design experiments, set out field plots, collect and analyze their data. The following spring, students will present their results at the Association for Southeastern Biologists? annual meeting and submit them for publication. This project initiates the Wine Guild Curriculum Partnership with the GSU Botanical Garden that will impact several thousand K-12 school children and their teachers. This outdoor curriculum provides hands-on experience with pollination biology. The children will run essentially the same experiments at the Botanical Garden that investigators run in the field, providing first-hand experience with the scientific process and a greater appreciation for this rich floral heritage.