POWRE: Mixed Mating Systems in Aquilegia Coerulea: The Role of Pollinators

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

Brunet, Johanne DEB 0074670 (POWRE) Most work on the evolution of self-fertilization has focused on the interactions between inbreeding depression and the gene-transmission advantage of selfing. Theoretical models predict that populations should evolve toward either predominant outcrossing or predominant selfing. However a third of all taxa for which the mating system has been estimated engage in a mixture of selfing and outcrossing. This lack of accord between theory and data suggest that factors other than inbreeding depression and gene transmission should influence the evolution of self-fertilization in natural plant populations. The PI will investigate how pollination ecology influences mixed mating systems. She will investigate the extent of mating variation among populations of the plant, A. coerulea, confirm the difference in major pollinators previously reported among populations, and start investigating geitonogamy, reproductive assurance, and floral characteristics. She wishes to establish a research program in plant breeding system evolution after working on a different problem for a number of years and reinvigorate her program doing this exploratory research.