Ecology, Evolution, and Genetic Architecture of Reproductive Isolation in Iris Nelsonii: A Homoploid Hybrid.

Texas State University - San Marcos, San Marcos TX

Investigators

Abstract

Understanding the origin and maintenance of species diversity is of primary importance to evolutionary biologists. Speciation is thought to primarily occur as populations diverge from each other. However, many species have arisen through a different and more poorly understood route, the process of homoploid hybrid speciation, in which hybrids form without genome duplication and are isolated reproductively from their parents. Questions such as the following can be addressed easily using species that have arisen by this process: What reproductive barriers are most important in maintaining species in nature? What is the genetic architecture of reproductive isolation? This project utilizes molecular and field techniques to examine homoploid hybrid speciation in the well-studied Louisiana Iris complex, using the hybrid species Iris nelsonii. This project will provide high school students, undergraduates, MSc, and PhD students with important preparation for answering some of the most fundamental questions in biology. It will support three students throughout their training at Texas State University, while also providing funds for traveling to scientific meetings to present their work. The project will promote diversity in science by immediately providing needed funds for female students. Further, the PI will recruit students from a primarily Hispanic background through a variety of outreach programs.