How do species interactions shape the evolution of flowers? - Katherine Eisen - Torrey Talks

How do species interactions shape the evolution of flowers? A study of California native annual wildflowers in the genus Clarkia. Darwin famously identified that species interactions in a “tangled bank” could influence how species evolve. Yet community ecology – the study of species interactions – and evolutionary biology – the study of phenotypic evolution – have been primarily studied in isolation; as a result, we still have limited knowledge of how ecological interactions cause phenotypic change in multiple types of traits, and how the evolutionary effects of these interactions may vary across communities. In flowering plant communities, co-occurring plant species often share pollinators, which can lead to indirect beneficial facilitation or detrimental competition between plant species for pollination. Katherine has studied how pollinator sharing affects the distribution of and trait variation in species in the genus Clarkia, which are annual plants native to the western US. The results of their field- and greenhouse-based studies indicate that patterns of trait evolution in more species- rich communities are not predictable from simpler communities, and that species interactions can affect the evolution of multiple aspects of a species' phenotype. ~~~~ Torrey Botanical Society Fall 2023 Lecture Series presented by Katherine Eisen, Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount University ~~~~ 00:00 Introduction 04:18 Lecture 50:42 Q&A ~~~~ For more information on future lectures, field trips, and the Torrey Botanical Society, visit https://www.torreybotanical.org