The Evolution of Plant Reproductive Diversity

植物繁殖是地球上生命的基础。确定生殖多样性起源的机制是进化生物学的一个中心问题。对植物繁殖的研究为自然选择适应进化提供了一些最好的例子。此外，植物繁殖的研究对于植物育种和生物技术的进步以及入侵生物学等应用领域都是至关重要的。这项研究的目标是通过确定生殖和遗传系统如何以及为什么发生进化变化来了解推动被子植物生殖多样性进化的机制。这项研究利用了许多草本植物的一个特征，即惊人的种内和种间变异，利用生态和进化遗传学的工具来测试理论模型。这些目标将使用适合于实验研究的、适合于解决具体问题的各种植物组来实现。这项由学生和博士后研究员(PDF)组成的团队进行的研究将使用不同的方法，包括对自然种群和实验种群的实地研究、温室实验、生物力学的实验室研究、比较方法、遗传杂交和选择实验，以及DNA序列的种群基因组分析。

Plant reproduction is fundamental to life on earth. Determining the mechanisms governing the origin of reproductive diversity is a central problem in evolutionary biology. Studies of plant reproduction provide some of the best examples of the evolution of adaptation by natural selection. Moreover, research on plant reproduction is critical for advances in plant breeding and biotechnology, and for applied fields such as invasion biology. The objective of this research program is to understand the mechanisms driving the evolution of angiosperm reproductive diversity by determining how and why evolutionary changes in reproductive and genetic systems occur. The research exploits the striking intra- and inter-specific variation that is a feature of many herbaceous plants to test theoretical models using the tools of ecological and evolutionary genetics. The objectives will be achieved using a variety of plant groups suitable for experimental studies, and that are appropriate for addressing specific questions. The research conducted by a team of students and post-doctoral fellows (PDFs) will use diverse approaches including field studies of natural and experimental populations, glasshouse experiments, laboratory studies of biomechanics, comparative methods, genetic crosses and selection experiments, and population genomic analysis of DNA sequences.