Delph Lab Lynda Delph Evolutionary ecology, plant reproductive biology. I am interested in evolutionarily based questions concerning various aspects of flowering plant reproduction. We are finding that males and females of dioecious species have remarkably different life histories and physiologies. The second avenue of investigation involves field work with a gynodioecious alpine plant in Colorado, Silene acaulis. We have evaluated mechanisms that might be responsible for differences in offspring fitness, including pollen-tube competition, pleiotropic affects of genes, and biparental inbreeding.
Results indirectly support the idea that nuclear restorer alleles have negative pleiotropic affects.
My lab is currently working on characterizing these costs, both with simulation models and empirically. In addition, we are investigating the genetic basis of sex determination in this species, using both crossing designs and molecular markers for mitochondrial genes. Overall, I use a combination of field and greenhouse experiments, artificial selection and traditional and quantitative genetics to address the evolution of gender and sexual dimorphism in flowering plants. L.F. Galloway, and M.L. Stanton. Sexual dimorphism in flower size.