Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Morphological Trait Evolution In Solanum (Solanaceae): Evolutionary Lability Of Key Taxonomic Characters, Rebecca Hilgenhof, Edeline Gagnon, Sandra Knapp, Xavier Aubriot, Eric Tepe, Lynn Bohs, Leandro Giacomin, Yuri Gouvea, Andres Orejuela, Christopher T. Martine, Clara Ines Orozco, Iris E. Peralta, Tina Sarkinen

Faculty Journal Articles

Solanum is one of the world's largest and economically most important plant genera, including 1245 currently accepted species and several major and minor crops (e.g., tomato, potato, brinjal eggplant, scarlet eggplant, Gboma eggplant, lulo, and pepino). Here we provide an overview of the evolution of 25 key morphological traits for the major and minor clades of this giant genus based on stochastic mapping using a well-sampled recently published phylogeny of Solanum. The most evolutionarily labile traits (showing >100 transitions across the genus) relate to plant structure (growth form and sympodial unit structure), herbivore defence (glandular trichomes), pollination (corolla shape …

Reaction-Diffusion System On Irregular Boundaries Reproduces Multiple Generations Of Petal Spot Patterns In Monkeyflower Hybrids, Emily Simmons

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Phylogenomic Discordance Suggests Polytomies Along The Backbone Of The Large Genus Solanum, Edeline Gagnon, Rebeccca Hilgenhof, Andrés Orejuela, Angela J. Mcdonnell, Gaurav Sablok, Xavier Aubriot, Leandro Giacomin, Yuri Gouvêa, Thamyris Bragionis, João Renato Stehmann, Lynn Bohs, Steven Dodsworth, Christopher T. Martine, Péter Poczai, Sandra Knapp, Tiina Särkinen

Faculty Journal Articles

Premise of the study

Evolutionary studies require solid phylogenetic frameworks, but increased volumes of phylogenomic data have revealed incongruent topologies among gene trees in many organisms both between and within genomes. Some of these incongruences indicate polytomies that may remain impossible to resolve. Here we investigate the degree of gene-tree discordance in Solanum, one of the largest flowering plant genera that includes the cultivated potato, tomato, and eggplant, as well as 24 minor crop plants.

Methods

A densely sampled species-level phylogeny of Solanum is built using unpublished and publicly available Sanger sequences comprising 60% of all accepted species (742 spp.) …

Drought Tolerance In Native And Invasive Populations Of The Centaurea Jacea Hybrid Complex, Zoe Portlas

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Introduced plants face many ecological and evolutionary challenges when establishing in a new range, such as strong abiotic stressors and potentially novel selective environments. One such abiotic stress is water availability, which is a strong selective force shaping physiological and phenological traits that enable plants to tolerate or avoid drought stress. Despite the challenges of establishing in a new range, thousands of species have become invasive in recent centuries. Two hypotheses that may explain how a species is able to withstand stress in its introduced range are preadaptation, which posits that species are adapted to similar environments in their native …

Chloroplast Genomes In Populus (Salicaceae): Comparisons From An Intensively Sampled Genus Reveal Dynamic Patterns Of Evolution, Jiawei Zhou, Shuo Zhang, Jie Wang, Hongmei Shen, Bin Ai, Wei Gao, Cuijun Zhang, Qili Fei, Daojun Yuan, Zhiqiang Wu, Luke R. Tembrock, Sen Li, Cuiha Gu, Xuezhu Liao

Aspen Bibliography

The chloroplast is one of two organelles containing a separate genome that codes for essential and distinct cellular functions such as photosynthesis. Given the importance of chloroplasts in plant metabolism, the genomic architecture and gene content have been strongly conserved through long periods of time and as such are useful molecular tools for evolutionary inferences. At present, complete chloroplast genomes from over 4000 species have been deposited into publicly accessible databases. Despite the large number of complete chloroplast genomes, comprehensive analyses regarding genome architecture and gene content have not been conducted for many lineages with complete species sampling. In this …

Climate Niche Evolution In C4+Cam Portulaca And Closely Related C3+Cam Lineages, Nora M. Heaphy

Library Map Prize

With at least a hundred independent origins among land plants, the CAM and C4 photosynthetic pathways represent one of the most notable examples of global convergent evolution of a complex trait. While biochemically similar, CAM and C4 are generally understood to be two distinct ecological adaptations evolving along separate trajectories. However, the purslanes (Portulaca), a globally widespread clade of around 100 species of annual and perennial succulents, are able to operate both CAM and C4 cycles in the same leaf. Portulaca likely originated from a facultative CAM ancestor and then evolved a C4 system at least three times …

Genetic Analysis Of Flower Color Differences Between A Hummingbird-Pollinated And A Self-Pollinated Monkeyflower (Mimulus) Species, Caitlin Foster

University Scholar Projects

Flower color plays an important role in pollinator discrimination and speciation. Understanding the genetic contributions to flower color differences between two closely related species, Mimulus cardinalis and Mimulus parishii, can improve understanding of how they developed different pollination syndromes and diverged from a recent common ancestor. M. cardinalis is hummingbird-pollinated and has large, bright red flowers while M. parishii is self-pollinated and has small, pale pink flowers. An F2 hybrid population between these two species was created to establish a platform for analysis of the genetic architecture controlling the differences in anthocyanin pigmentation. Statistical analysis of anthocyanin concentration distribution …

Molecular Differentiation Of Astragalus Species And Varieties From The Western United States: The Chloroplast Dna Bridge Between Evolution And Molecular Systematics, Marwa Neyaz, Daniel Cook, Rebecca Creamer

Poisonous Plant Research (PPR)

Locoweeds are the most widespread poisonous plant problem in the world and have been reported in the Western United States since the 1800s, causing tremendous losses in livestock. Consumption of locoweeds by grazing animals stimulates the neurological disease, locoism, characterized by weight loss, ataxia, and lack of muscular coordination. The name locoweed is used for Astragalus and Oxytropis species known to contain swainsonine, the toxic principle produced by the plant endophytic fungus Undifilum. Astragalus includes 2,500-3,000 species and many varieties that have almost identical morphological characteristics that overlap among species, leading to improper identification. Therefore, the aim of this study …

Evolutionary Genomics Of Dynamic Sex Chromosomes In The Salicaceae, Ran Zhou

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Identifying the sex-determination region (SDR) and other genomic features of sex chromosomes are of great importance in the studies of the evolution of sex. However, the process of accurately identifying the size and location of the SDR is often difficult, even when a genomic sequence is available. This usually is hindered by large repetitive elements and a lack of recombination in the SDR. In this thesis, I assemble sex chromosomes with whole genomic sequencing data, identify SDRs and explore their genomic features in two sister species from the Salicaceae family. I also develop an interpretation of the lability of the …

Natural And Anthropogenic Drivers Of Tree Evolutionary Dynamics, Brandon M. Lind

Theses and Dissertations

Species of trees inhabit diverse and heterogeneous environments, and often play important ecological roles in such communities. As a result of their vast ecological breadth, trees have become adapted to various environmental pressures. In this dissertation I examine various environmental factors that drive evolutionary dynamics in threePinusspecies in California and Nevada, USA. In chapter two, I assess the role of management influence of thinning, fire, and their interaction on fine-scale gene flow within fire-suppressed populations of Pinus lambertiana, a historically dominant and ecologically important member of mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, California. Here, I find evidence …

Climate Dynamics, Invader Fitness, And Ecosystem Resistance In An Invasion-Factor Framework, Stephen L. Young, David R. Clements, Antonio Ditommaso

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

As researchers and land managers increasingly seek to understand plant invasions and the external (climate) and internal (plant genetics) conditions that govern the process, new insight is helping to answer the elusive question of what makes some invasions successful and others not. Plant invasion success or failure is based on a combination of evolutionary and ecological processes. Abiotic (e.g., climate) and biotic (e.g., plant competition) conditions in the environment and plant genetics (e.g., fitness) combine in either decreasing or increasing invasion, yet it has proven challenging to know exactly which of these conditions leads to success for a given species, …

Computational Identification Of Terpene Synthase Genes And Their Evolutionary Analysis, Qidong Jia

Doctoral Dissertations

Terpenoids, the largest and most structurally and functionally diverse class of natural compounds on earth, are mostly synthesized by plants to be involved in various plant environment interactions. Some terpenoids are classified as primary metabolites essential for plant growth and development. Terpene synthases (TPSs), the key enzymes for terpenoid biosynthesis, are the major determinant of the tremendous diversity of terpenoid carbon skeletons. The TPS genes represent a mid-size family of about 30-100 functional genes in almost all major sequenced plant genomes. TPSs are also found in fungi and bacteria, but microbial TPS genes share low levels of sequence similarity and …

Evolution Of Vernalization And Photoperiod-Regulated Genetic Networks In The Grass Subfamily Pooideae, Meghan Mckeown

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Flowering time is a carefully regulated trait that integrates cues from temperature and photoperiod to coordinate flowering at favorable times of the year. This dissertation aims to understand the evolution of genetic architecture that facilitated the transition of Pooideae, a subfamily of grass, from the tropics to the temperate northern hemisphere approximately 50 million years ago. Two traits hypothesized to have facilitated this evolutionary shift are the use of long-term low-temperature (vernalization) to ready plants for flowering, and long-day photoperiods to induce flowering. In chapter one I review literature on the regulation of grass flowering by vernalization and photoperiod, and …

Principles Of Biology, Robert Bear, David Rintoul, Bruce Snyder, Martha Smith-Caldas, Christopher Herren, Eva Horne

Open Access Textbooks

This textbook is designed specifically for Kansas State's Biology 198 Class. The course is taught using the studio approach and based on active learning. The studio manual contains all of the learning objectives for each class period and is the record of all student activities. Hence, this textbook is more of a reference tool while the studio manual is the learning tool.

The textbook was originally published and is also available to download at http://cnx.org/contents/db89c8f8-a27c-4685-ad2a-19d11a2a7e2e@24.1.It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 license.

Extreme Environments Select For Reproductive Assurance: Evidence From Evening Primroses (Oenothera), Margaret Evans, David Hearn, Kathryn Theiss, Karen Cranston, Kent Holsinger, Michael Donoghue

Kent E Holsinger

• Competing evolutionary forces shape plant breeding systems (e.g. inbreeding depression, reproductive assurance). Which of these forces prevails in a given population or species is predicted to depend upon such factors as life history, eco- logical conditions, and geographical context. Here, we examined two such predictions: that self-compatibility should be associated with the annual life history or extreme climatic conditions.

• We analyzed data from a clade of plants remarkable for variation in breeding system, life history and climatic conditions (Oenothera, sections Anogra and Kleinia, Onagraceae). We used a phylogenetic comparative approach and Bayesian or hybrid Bayesian tests to account …

Wood Anatomy Of Family Salvadoraceae From The Indian Subcontinent With Special Reference To The Ultrastructure Of The Vessel Wall, Vishakha Saxena, Sangeeta Gupta

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

The present study describes the wood microstructure of Azima tetracantha, Salvadora oleoides, and S. persica, the members of family Salvadoraceae represented in the Indian Subcontinent. An identification key based on wood anatomical features has been developed for the separation of the species. SEM studies revealed the presence of vesturing in intervessel pits of Salvadora.

Extreme Environments Select For Reproductive Assurance: Evidence From Evening Primroses (Oenothera), Margaret E.K. Evans, David J. Hearn, Kathryn E. Theiss, Karen Cranston, Kent E. Holsinger, Michael J. Donoghue

EEB Articles

• Competing evolutionary forces shape plant breeding systems (e.g. inbreeding depression, reproductive assurance). Which of these forces prevails in a given population or species is predicted to depend upon such factors as life history, eco- logical conditions, and geographical context. Here, we examined two such predictions: that self-compatibility should be associated with the annual life history or extreme climatic conditions.

• We analyzed data from a clade of plants remarkable for variation in breeding system, life history and climatic conditions (Oenothera, sections Anogra and Kleinia, Onagraceae). We used a phylogenetic comparative approach and Bayesian or hybrid Bayesian tests to account …

Descriptive Anatomy And Evolutionary Patterns Of Anatomical Diversification In Adenia (Passifloraceae), David J. Hearn

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

To understand evolutionary patterns and processes that account for anatomical diversity in relation to ecology and life form diversity, anatomy of storage roots and stems of the genus Adenia (Passifloraceae) were analyzed using an explicit phylogenetic context. Over 65,000 measurements are reported for 47 quantitative and qualitative traits from 58 species in the genus. Vestiges of lianous ancestry were apparent throughout the group, as treelets and lianous taxa alike share relatively short, often wide, vessel elements with simple, transverse perforation plates, and alternate lateral wall pitting; fibriform vessel elements, tracheids associated with vessels, and libriform fibers as additional tracheary elements; …

Dicliny In Bouteloua (Poaceae: Chloridoideae): Implications For The Evolution Of Dioecy, Michael S. Kinney, J. Travis Columbus, Elizabeth A. Friar

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

The New World grass genus Bouteloua (Chloridoideae: Cynodonteae) comprises 57 species, 13 of which produce unisexual spikelets and hence are diclinous. Andromonoecy, gynodioecy, monoecy, trimonoecy, and dioecy all occur in the genus, and ten species are known to express more than one of these breeding systems. Employing a phylogenetic estimate based on parsimony analysis of DNA sequences from the ITS (nrDNA) and trnL–F (cpDNA) regions representing 35 species of Bouteloua, including ten of 13 diclinous species, we used parsimony character state reconstructions to investigate the evolution of unisexual spikelets and breeding systems. Our specific goals were to estimate …

Plant Dioecy, Ecology, Evolution And Sex Reversal, D. Carl Freeman

Theses and Dissertations

The distribution of dioecious species among forty-four plant communities of western United States was examined. The dioecious habit is most prevalent in harsh environments. In many communities, over 20 percent of the species and 40 percent of the individuals are dioecious. Dioecy is most common among woody species which are pollinated by wind. It is concluded that inbreeding depression alone is insufficient to account for all known facts concerning dioecy. Disruptive selection acting upon differential success of gametes produced on sites of differing quality appears to have played a major role in producing separate sexed individuals. Dioecious species reported to …