Major
Biology
Anticipated Graduation Year
2022
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Species evolve to their local environmental conditions, accounting for the biodiversity seen through phenotypic variation. Phenotypic changes are commonly quantified using morphometrics to learn how populations change over time, as well as the mechanism of evolution that are driving the change. Here I examine the fruit shape of Astragaluslentiginosus, one of the most taxonomically diverse flora in North America with over 40 varieties. The varieties of A. lentiginosus are commonly characterized by fruit shape, however it is unclear to what extent fruit shape varies within and between varieties and what is driving this variation. Variation could be due to natural selection to local environment or a by product of neutral process (ie. genetic drift or isolation by distance). The variation in fruit shape can be quantified to determine the forces causing variations amongst the varieties. The goal of this research is to quantify the phenotypic variation seen across varieties of A. lentiginosus using morphometrics to determine how similar or different subspecies are to one another according to their fruit shape. In this study we quantified the fruit shape of 12 different species of A. lentiginosus. Preliminary results indicate that fruit shape may describe differences between some varieties of A. lentiginosus while other varieties may not be considered morphologically different from one another.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Quinn Thomas, Graduate Student Mentor, Michael Grillo, Faculty Mentor , Biology Department
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Analyzing Variation in Fruit Shape Across Varieties of Astragalus lentiginosus
Species evolve to their local environmental conditions, accounting for the biodiversity seen through phenotypic variation. Phenotypic changes are commonly quantified using morphometrics to learn how populations change over time, as well as the mechanism of evolution that are driving the change. Here I examine the fruit shape of Astragaluslentiginosus, one of the most taxonomically diverse flora in North America with over 40 varieties. The varieties of A. lentiginosus are commonly characterized by fruit shape, however it is unclear to what extent fruit shape varies within and between varieties and what is driving this variation. Variation could be due to natural selection to local environment or a by product of neutral process (ie. genetic drift or isolation by distance). The variation in fruit shape can be quantified to determine the forces causing variations amongst the varieties. The goal of this research is to quantify the phenotypic variation seen across varieties of A. lentiginosus using morphometrics to determine how similar or different subspecies are to one another according to their fruit shape. In this study we quantified the fruit shape of 12 different species of A. lentiginosus. Preliminary results indicate that fruit shape may describe differences between some varieties of A. lentiginosus while other varieties may not be considered morphologically different from one another.