Date:
Location:
"The role of constraints in the evolution of plant reproductive strategies" with Jannice Friedman, Associate Professor of Evolutionary Biology
Queen's University."
Abstract from the speaker:
Plants show incredible diversity in their reproductive strategies, and a central problem for evolutionary biologists is to understand the selective forces that are responsible for the origins and maintenance of this diversity. Our research investigates the role of constraints, including trade-offs between clonal and sexual reproduction, and allocation to female versus male function, in shaping selection on reproductive strategies. Research questions address constraints along the three major axes of plant reproductive strategies: life history; pollination; and mating. Here I will discuss research using the wildflower, Mimulus guttatus, to investigate phenotypic and genetic trade-offs between clonal and sexual allocation. I then describe a study using the wind-pollinated plant Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed) to test predictions about sex allocation and sexual selection during pollination. Finally, I show new research using Saponaria officinalis that examines the potential for conflict between female and male sexual functions and how flower colour mediates this relationship through its interaction with animal pollinators. Our research provides insight on the maintenance of variation in flowering, resource and sex allocation, and their role in the evolution of plant reproductive strategies.
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