Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

07 May, 05 AM - 09 May, 05 AM

I am generally interested in evolutionary ecology and the genetics of local adaptation in natural plant populations. Specifically, the project I am working on as a doctoral student in Dr. John H. Willis' lab at Duke University is looking at the evolution and genetic architecture of serpentine tolerance in Mimulus guttatus (Phrymaceae ex. Scrophulariaceae). M. guttatus is found growing both on and off serpentine soils throughout California and Oregon. Derived from the weathering of ultramafic rocks, serpentine soils have low levels of calcium relative to magnesium, high levels of heavy metals, low soil moisture and low nutrient content. This complex set of factors differentiating serpentine soils from surrounding soils results in low productivity and exclusion of many plant species from these areas. My project aims to assay tolerance to each of these serpentine edaphic factors individually in M. guttatus as well as in two serpentine endemic species, M. nudatus and M. pardalis, in order to examine the genetics of adaptive divergence in this system and the relative importance of each of these edaphic factors in promoting local adaption and speciation in the M. guttatus species complex. By using QTL mapping, microarrays and fine mapping and candidate gene strategies; I hope to identify regions of the genome, and eventually the actual genes, that underlie local adaption to serpentine soils as well as to suggest potential physiological mechanisms the may confer tolerance. I have just completed my first year as a doctoral student and would like to visit Sedgewick Reserve as a part of a large collection trip. I would like to collect seeds from M. guttatus populations growing both on and off of serpentine soils as well as collect soil samples from the immediate vicinity of these populations. I will be collecting populations of M. guttatus as well as M. nudatus and M. pardalis from throughout California and Oregon. These populations will allow me to look at broadscale patterns of tolerance and plant material ionic content associated with various serpentine edaphic factors as well as identify differences in local soil conditions across the range of M. guttatus serpentine ecotypes. I will use some of these populations for QTL mapping and ultimately, if I am able to identifiy specific genes involved in serpentine tolerance, address questions related to the parallel evolution of serpentine tolerance in M. guttatus.

Visit #15174 @Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 9979 | Research

The evolution of serpentine tolerance in the Mimulus guttatus species complex

research_scientist - Duke University

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Group of 2 Graduate Student May 7 - 9, 2008 (3 days)

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Whale Point Researcher Cabin 2 May 7 - 9, 2008