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Research | Teaching | Team | Publications
e-mail:ganders@interchange.ubc.ca
office phone: (604) 822-5682
Professor, Dept. of Botany
B.Sc., Botany (1967), Washington State University;
B.A., Political Science (1967), Washington State University;
M.A., Botany (1969), University of California, Berkeley;
Ph.D., Botany (1975), University of California, Berkeley;
Visiting Luminary Professor, University of Hawaii, Manoa
1989-1990. |
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Research Interests:
My research interests are biosystematics and evolution of
flowering plants, with particular emphasis on adaptive radiation
on oceanic islands and the role of mating systems in evolution.
My biosystematic and evolutionary studies have concentrated
on Pacific coast annuals such as Amsinckia, Plectritis and
Mimulus, and on endemic Hawaiian species of Bidens and their
continental and Polynesian sister groups.
Research on mating systems involves quantitative estimates
of outcrossing rates and genetic variability in natural
populations, including both isozyme and morphological polymorphisms.
The systems of interest include heterostyly, gynodioecy,
and closely related outcrossers and selfers. Heterostylous
species are polymorphic for flowers with reciprocally different
style and stamen lengths. My research has documented the
adaptive significance of heterostyly (New Zealand J. Bot.
17: 607-635). Our studies of outcrossers and selfers have
shown that the mating system is a major factor determining
the genetic structure of natural plant populations. Gynodioecious
populations consist of separate hermaphrodite and female
individuals. Females are at a disadvan- tage compared to
hermaphrodites because they do not contribute any genes
to the next generation through pollen. To persist, they
must have some compensating selective advantage. We hypothesize
that the selective advantage of females is that they are
obligately outcrossing, whereas hermaphrodites can self
and their inbred progeny are less fit.
I am also investigating adaptive radiation in Hawaiian
Bidens. The 27 endemic taxa of Bidens on the Hawaiian Islands
are extremely morphologically and ecologically diverse,
yet all evolved from a single ancestral species which colonized
from Central America. All Hawaiian species are interfertile,
and have diverged little in chemistry or isozymes. Founder
effects, and morphological adaptation to the diverse habitats
of the Hawaiian Islands, appear to be the most important
causes of adaptive radiation and the early stages of macroevolution.
We are comparing Hawaiian Bidens with their continental
relatives, and testing whether a secondary adaptive radiation
of Bidens in outheastern Polynesia evolved from Hawaiian
ancestors or South American ones. Our goal is a genetic
analysis of speciation, adaptive radiation, and macroevolution.
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Courses
Taught (2003-2004):
On leave
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Publications:
Ganders, F, Berbee, ML and Pirseyedi, M. 2000. ITS Base
Sequence Phylogeny in Bidens (Asteraceae): Evidence for
the Continental Relatives of Hawaiian and Marquesan Bidens.
Systematic Botany, 25(1):122-133.
Kim, S-C; DJ Crawford, M Tadesse, M Berbee, F Ganders,
M Pirseyedi, M and EJ Esselman. 1999. ITS sequences and
phylogenetic relationships in Bidens and Coreopsis (Asteraceae).
Systematic Botany, 24(3):480-493.
Schultz, ST and FR Ganders. 1996. Evolution of unisexuality
in the Hawaiian Islands: A test of micro-evolutionary theory.
Evolution 50:842-855.
Ganders, FR, BA Bohm and SP McCormick. 1990. Flavonoid
variation in Hawaiian Bidens. Systematic Botany, 15 : 231-239.
Ganders, FR and KM Nagata. 1990. Bidens. In: WL Wagner,
DR Herbst, and SH Sohmer, Manual of the flowering plants
of Hawaii; 267-283. Honolulu: U. of Hawaii Press and Bishop
Museum Press.
Ritland, K and FR Ganders. 1987. Covariation of selfing
rates with parental gene fixation indices within populations
of Mimulus guttatus. Evolution 41:760-771.
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