| Abstract Detail
Ecological Section Frey, Frank M. [1]. Maintenance of floral-color variation in Claytonia virginica. The maintenance of floral-color variation within natural populations is enigmatic because directional selection through pollinator preferences combined with random genetic drift should lead to the rapid loss of such variation. Fluctuating, balancing, and negative frequency-dependent selection mediated through pollinators have been identified as factors that may contribute to the maintenance of floral-color variation, and recently it has been suggested that indirect responses to selection on correlated characters through agents of selection other than pollinators may substantially shape the evolution of floral traits. I will present data from a multi-season field study, a pollen supplementation study, and an artificial herbivory experiment that support this latter view in Claytonia virginica (Portulacaceae). In this system, floral color is an indirect target of opposing directional selection via herbivores and pathogens that fluctuates through time. I will also present data from experimental arrays designed to test whether pollinator-driven selective mechanisms might also influence the maintenance of floral-color variation.
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1 - Colgate University, Department of Biology, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, New York, 13346, USA
Keywords:
Claytonia virginica
floral-color evolution
herbivory
pollination ecology
polymorphism.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 9-5
Location: Salon A - Gov Ballroom/Hilton
Date: Monday, August 15th, 2005
Time: 11:15 AM
Abstract ID:325 |
