Project Description:
|
This interdisciplinary project will incorporate the disciplines of ecology, plant genomics, and evolution. Flowering plants or angiosperms are the most diverse plants in the world with over 250,000 species and are characterized by producing flowers and fruits. Those structures are initiated after a certain period of vegetative growth and development, however, when the switch to reproductive growth is initiated varies across the plant groups. Some plants do this within a few month, while others may take many years or decades. What factor(s) control the switch: ecological, genetic, or the combination of the two? If we know the factors, can we control the factors and in turn the plant flowering at will in space and time? We will use anatomical and genomic approaches to explore the questions.
|