The two sexes of this species have remarkably different life histories, which appear to be influenced by the sexual dimorphism in flower number - males make 17 times as many flowers as females over the same time period. A QTL-mapping project is underway, which involves crosses between the divergent selection lines to investigate the genetic architecture of the correlated responses. We are also investigating among-population differentiation in morphological and physiological traits that are sexually dimorphic. The second main avenue of investigation involves the gynodioecious plant, Silene acaulis , which is circumpolar in the northern hemisphere in arctic and alpine habitats. Once we had shown that seeds from females are not better provisioned than those from hermaphrodites, we turned to alternative hypotheses.
Results indirectly support the idea that nuclear restorer alleles have negative pleiotropic affects.
We are currently working on characterizing these costs, both with simulation models and empirically. Past work also includes an investigation of population structure, which revealed positive spatial autocorrelation within 1-3 m, and panmixia past that. In addition, we are investigating the genetic basis of sex determination in this species, using both crossing designs and molecular markers for mitochondrial genes. This level of polymorphism is unprecendented. My students do not necessarily work on questions directly related to those I work on - it depends very much on each individual student.