Scholars@Duke
Mark D. Rausher

Mark D. Rausher

John Carlisle Kilgo Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology
Biology
mrausher@duke.edu
Box 90338, Durham, NC 27708-0338
Room 371-B Biological Sciences, Durham, NC 27708

Scholarly Works - Journal articles

A Strategy of Assessing Gene Copy Number Differentiation Between Populations Using Ultra-Fast De Novo Assembly of Next-Generation Sequencing Data.

Journal article Molecular ecology resources · May 2025 Gene duplication and loss play pivotal roles in the evolutionary dynamics of genomes, contributing to species phenotypic diversity and adaptation. However, detecting copy number variations (CNVs) in homoploid populations and newly-diverged species using sh ... Full text Cite

Whole-genome sequence and annotation of Penstemon davidsonii.

Journal article G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · March 2024 Penstemon is the most speciose flowering plant genus endemic to North America. Penstemon species' diverse morphology and adaptation to various environments have made them a valuable model system for studying evolution. Here, we report the first full refere ... Full text Cite

Absence of long-term balancing selection on variation in EuMYB3, an R2R3-MYB gene responsible for the anther-color polymorphism in Erythronium umbilicatum.

Journal article Scientific reports · March 2024 Balancing selection has been shown to be common in plants for several different types of traits, such as self-incompatibility and heterostyly. Generally, for these traits balancing selection is generated by interactions among individuals or between individ ... Full text Cite

A few essential genetic loci distinguish Penstemon species with flowers adapted to pollination by bees or hummingbirds.

Journal article PLoS biology · September 2023 In the formation of species, adaptation by natural selection generates distinct combinations of traits that function well together. The maintenance of adaptive trait combinations in the face of gene flow depends on the strength and nature of selection acti ... Full text Cite

Complex cross-incompatibility in morning glories is consistent with a role for mating system in plant speciation.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · June 2023 Reproductive isolation between selfing and outcrossing species can arise through diverse mechanisms, some of which are directly associated with differences in mating system. We dissected cross-incompatibility between the highly selfing morning glory Ipomoe ... Full text Cite

Expression inheritance and constraints on cis- and trans-regulatory mutations underlying lotus color variation.

Journal article Plant physiology · March 2023 Both cis- and trans-regulatory mutations drive changes in gene expression that underpin plant phenotypic evolution. However, how and why these two major types of regulatory mutations arise in different genes and how gene expression is inherited and associa ... Full text Cite

Floral scent divergence across an elevational hybrid zone with varying pollinators.

Journal article Oecologia · January 2023 Divergence in floral traits attractive to different pollinators can promote reproductive isolation in related species. When isolation is incomplete, hybridization may occur, which offers the opportunity to explore mechanisms underlying reproductive isolati ... Full text Cite

Genomic insights into inter- and intraspecific mating system shifts in Primulina.

Journal article Molecular ecology · November 2022 The mating system shift from outcrossing to selfing is one of the most frequent evolutionary trends in flowering plants. However, the genomic consequences of this shift remain poorly understood. Specifically, the relative importance of the demographic and ... Full text Cite

Crossability and Genetic Characterization of a North American Representative of Ipomoea grandifolia (Convolvulaceae), a Member of Ipomoea Series Batatas

Journal article Systematic Botany · September 16, 2022 Abstract— Species in the genus Ipomoea are often difficult to identify due to their similar morphologies and their ab ... Full text Cite

Modularity and selection of nectar traits in the evolution of the selfing syndrome in Ipomoea lacunosa (Convolvulaceae).

Journal article The New phytologist · February 2022 Although the evolution of the selfing syndrome often involves reductions in floral size, pollen and nectar, few studies of selfing syndrome divergence have examined nectar. We investigate whether nectar traits have evolved independently of other floral siz ... Full text Cite

Morphological and molecular characterization of variation in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) germplasm from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.

Journal article PloS one · January 2022 Phaseolus vulgaris, an essential food and source of protein, is cultivated across the world. This study was carried out to investigate the diversity and population structure of 34 P. vulgaris landrace accessions collected from the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (A ... Full text Cite

Ancient Gene Duplications, Rather Than Polyploidization, Facilitate Diversification of Petal Pigmentation Patterns in Clarkia gracilis (Onagraceae).

Journal article Molecular biology and evolution · December 2021 It has been suggested that gene duplication and polyploidization create opportunities for the evolution of novel characters. However, the connections between the effects of polyploidization and morphological novelties have rarely been examined. In this stu ... Full text Cite

Genetic architecture of divergence: the selfing syndrome in Ipomoea lacunosa.

Journal article American journal of botany · October 2021 PremiseHighly selfing plant species frequently display a distinctive suite of traits termed the selfing syndrome. Here we tested the hypothesis that these traits are grouped into correlated evolutionary modules and determined the degree of indepen ... Full text Cite

Morning glory species co-occurrence is associated with asymmetrically decreased and cascading reproductive isolation.

Journal article Evolution letters · February 2021 Featured Publication Hybridization between species can affect the strength of the reproductive barriers that separate those species. Two extensions of this effect are (1) the expectation that asymmetric hybridization or gene flow will have asymmetric effects on reproductive ba ... Full text Cite

R2R3-MYB genes control petal pigmentation patterning in Clarkia gracilis ssp. sonomensis (Onagraceae).

Journal article The New phytologist · January 2021 Featured Publication Petal pigmentation patterning is widespread in flowering plants. The genetics of these pattern elements has been of great interest for understanding the evolution of phenotypic diversification. Here, we investigate the genetic changes responsible for the e ... Full text Cite

Differences of flavonoid structural genes preferentially expressed in brown and green natural colored cotton

Journal article Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry · January 1, 2021 We compared the expression levels of some structural genes involved in the flavonoid pathway between two brown cotton lines (brown 16 and light brown 14) and two green cotton lines (greenish 12 and light green 5). Gene expression levels of six structural g ... Full text Cite

Host Plant Choice Determined by Reproductive Interference between Closely Related Butterflies.

Journal article The American naturalist · October 2020 AbstractA number of empirical studies have concluded that reproductive interference (RI) contributes to parapatric species distributions or sexual exclusion. However, the possibility that divergent host plant use in phytophagous insects is due to sexual ex ... Full text Cite

The genome of a cave plant, Primulina huaijiensis, provides insights into adaptation to limestone karst habitats.

Journal article The New phytologist · August 2020 Although whole genome duplication (WGD) has been suggested to facilitate adaptive evolution and diversification, the role of specific WGD events in promoting diversification and adaptation in angiosperms remains poorly understood. Primulina, a species-rich ... Full text Cite

Retraction Note: Two genetic changes in cis-regulatory elements caused evolution of petal spot position in Clarkia.

Journal article Nature plants · July 2020 An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. ... Full text Cite

Selection favors loss of floral pigmentation in a highly selfing morning glory.

Journal article PloS one · January 2020 A common evolutionary trend in highly selfing plants is the evolution of the "selfing syndrome", in which traits associated with pollinator attraction are lost or greatly reduced. Limited information is available on whether these trait reductions are favor ... Full text Cite

A taxonomic monograph of Ipomoea integrated across phylogenetic scales.

Journal article Nature plants · November 2019 Taxonomic monographs have the potential to make a unique contribution to the understanding of global biodiversity. However, such studies, now rare, are often considered too daunting to undertake within a realistic time frame, especially as the world's coll ... Full text Cite

Adaptation to hummingbird pollination is associated with reduced diversification in Penstemon.

Journal article Evolution letters · October 2019 A striking characteristic of the Western North American flora is the repeated evolution of hummingbird pollination from insect-pollinated ancestors. This pattern has received extensive attention as an opportunity to study repeated trait evolution as well a ... Full text Open Access Cite

Mark D. Rausher.

Journal article The New phytologist · September 2019 Full text Cite

Multiple aspects of the selfing syndrome of the morning glory Ipomoea lacunosa evolved in response to selection: A Qst-Fst comparison.

Journal article Ecology and evolution · July 2019 The frequent transition from outcrossing to selfing in flowering plants is often accompanied by changes in multiple aspects of floral morphology, termed the "selfing syndrome." While the repeated evolution of these changes suggests a role for natural selec ... Full text Cite

Genetic architecture of quantitative flower and leaf traits in a pair of sympatric sister species of Primulina.

Journal article Heredity · June 2019 Flowers and leaves each represent suites of functionally interrelated traits that are often involved in species divergence and local adaptation. However, a major unresolved issue is how the individual component traits that make up a complex trait such as a ... Full text Cite

Gene flow, divergent selection and resistance to introgression in two species of morning glories (Ipomoea).

Journal article Molecular ecology · April 2019 Gene flow is thought to impede genetic divergence and speciation by homogenizing genomes. Recent theory and research suggest that sufficiently strong divergent selection can overpower gene flow, leading to loci that are highly differentiated compared to ot ... Full text Cite

SNP-skimming: A fast approach to map loci generating quantitative variation in natural populations.

Journal article Molecular ecology resources · November 2018 Genome-wide association mapping (GWAS) is a method to estimate the contribution of segregating genetic loci to trait variation. A major challenge for applying GWAS to nonmodel species has been generating dense genome-wide markers that satisfy the key requi ... Full text Cite

Reconciling Conflicting Phylogenies in the Origin of Sweet Potato and Dispersal to Polynesia.

Journal article Current biology : CB · April 2018 The sweet potato is one of the world's most widely consumed crops, yet its evolutionary history is poorly understood. In this paper, we present a comprehensive phylogenetic study of all species closely related to the sweet potato and address several questi ... Full text Cite

Two genetic changes in cis-regulatory elements caused evolution of petal spot position in Clarkia.

Journal article Nature plants · January 2018 A major premise in evolutionary developmental biology is that regulatory changes, often involving cis-regulatory elements, are responsible for much morphological evolution. This premise is supported by recent investigations of animal development, but infor ... Full text Cite

How petals change their spots: cis-regulatory re-wiring in Clarkia (Onagraceae).

Journal article The New phytologist · October 2017 A long-standing question in evolutionary developmental biology is how new traits evolve. Although most floral pigmentation studies have focused on how pigment intensity and composition diversify, few, if any, have explored how a pattern element can shift p ... Full text Cite

Selfing, Local Mate Competition, and Reinforcement.

Journal article The American naturalist · February 2017 Reinforcement can contribute to speciation by increasing the strength of prezygotic isolating mechanisms. Theoretical analyses over the past two decades have demonstrated that conditions for reinforcement are not unduly restrictive, and empirical investiga ... Full text Cite

Costs of resistance and correlational selection in the multiple-herbivore community of Solanum carolinense.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · October 2016 Full text Cite

Erratum: Evolution of host range in Coleosporium ipomoeae, a plant pathogen with multiple hosts (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2016) 113 (5346-5351) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1522997113)

Journal article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · July 12, 2016 The authors note that the legends for Fig. 3 and 4 appeared incorrectly. The figures and their corrected legends appear below. (Figure Presented). ... Full text Cite

Evolution of host range in Coleosporium ipomoeae, a plant pathogen with multiple hosts.

Journal article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · May 2016 Plants and their pathogens coevolve locally. Previous investigations of one host-one pathogen systems have demonstrated that natural selection favors pathogen genotypes that are virulent on a broad range of host genotypes. In the present study, we examine ... Full text Cite

Multiplexed shotgun genotyping resolves species relationships within the North American genus Penstemon.

Journal article American journal of botany · May 2016 Premise of the studyEvolutionary radiations provide opportunities to examine large-scale patterns in diversification and character evolution, yet are often recalcitrant to phylogenetic resolution due to rapid speciation events. The plant genus Pen ... Full text Cite

A Balanced Data Archiving Policy for Long-Term Studies.

Journal article Trends in ecology & evolution · February 2016 Full text Cite

Prolonged Adaptive Evolution of a Defensive Gene in the Solanaceae.

Journal article Molecular biology and evolution · January 2016 Although plants and their natural enemies may coevolve for prolonged periods, little is known about how long individual plant defensive genes are involved in the coevolutionary process. We address this issue by examining patterns of selection on the defens ... Full text Cite

Commentary: When does understanding phenotypic evolution require identification of the underlying genes?

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · July 2015 Adaptive evolution is fundamentally a genetic process. Over the past three decades, characterizing the genes underlying adaptive phenotypic change has revealed many important aspects of evolutionary change. At the same time, natural selection is often fund ... Full text Cite

Ecological transition predictably associated with gene degeneration.

Journal article Molecular biology and evolution · February 2015 Gene degeneration or loss can significantly contribute to phenotypic diversification, but may generate genetic constraints on future evolutionary trajectories, potentially restricting phenotypic reversal. Such constraints may manifest as directional evolut ... Full text Cite

Strong reinforcing selection in a Texas wildflower.

Journal article Current biology : CB · September 2014 Reinforcement, the process of increased reproductive isolation due to selection against hybrids, is an important mechanism by which natural selection contributes to speciation [1]. Empirical studies suggest that reinforcement has generated reproductive iso ... Full text Cite

Identification of major quantitative trait loci underlying floral pollination syndrome divergence in Penstemon.

Journal article Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · August 2014 Distinct floral pollination syndromes have emerged multiple times during the diversification of flowering plants. For example, in western North America, a hummingbird pollination syndrome has evolved more than 100 times, generally from within insect-pollin ... Full text Cite

The cost of reinforcement: selection on flower color in allopatric populations of Phlox drummondii.

Journal article The American naturalist · May 2014 Reinforcement is the process by which increased reproductive isolation between incipient species evolves due to selection against maladaptive hybrids or costly hybrid mating. Reinforcement is predicted to create a pattern of greater prezygotic reproductive ... Full text Cite

Predictability and irreversibility of genetic changes associated with flower color evolution in Penstemon barbatus.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · April 2014 Two outstanding questions in evolutionary biology are whether, and how often, the genetic basis of phenotypic evolution is predictable; and whether genetic change constrains evolutionary reversibility. We address these questions by studying the genetic bas ... Full text Cite

Morphological and genetic differentiation and reproductive isolation among closely related taxa in the Ipomoea series Batatas.

Journal article American journal of botany · November 2013 Premise of the studyIdentifying recently diverged taxa can be useful for studying the process of speciation. Ipomoea lacunosa and I. cordatotriloba, along with a putative homoploid hybrid, I. ×leucantha, are closely related taxa, which are promisi ... Full text Cite

Evolution of resistance to a multiple-herbivore community: genetic correlations, diffuse coevolution, and constraints on the plant's response to selection.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · June 2013 Although plants are generally attacked by a community of several species of herbivores, relatively little is known about the strength of natural selection for resistance in multiple-herbivore communities-particularly how the strength of selection differs a ... Full text Cite

Precise spatio-temporal regulation of the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway leads to petal spot formation in Clarkia gracilis (Onagraceae).

Journal article The New phytologist · February 2013 Petal spots are widespread in angiosperms and are often implicated in pollinator attraction. Clarkia gracilis petals each have a single red-purple spot that contrasts against a pink background. The position and presence of spots in C. gracilis are determin ... Full text Cite

Evolution of flux control in the glucosinolate pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Journal article Molecular biology and evolution · January 2013 Network characteristics of biochemical pathways are believed to influence the rate of evolutionary change in constituent enzymes. One characteristic that may affect rate heterogeneity is control of the amount of product produced by a biochemical pathway or ... Full text Cite

Evolution of the selfing syndrome in Ipomoea.

Journal article Frontiers in plant science · January 2013 Plants that are highly selfing typically exhibit a suite of morphological traits termed a "selfing syndrome," including reduced corollas and reproductive structures, loss of corolla pigmentation, little anther-stigma separation, and a lower pollen/ovule (P ... Full text Cite

Lessons from flower colour evolution on targets of selection.

Journal article Journal of experimental botany · October 2012 The genetic basis of flower colour evolution provides a useful system to address the debate over the relative contribution of regulatory vs. functional mutations in evolution. The relative importance of these two categories depends on the type of flower co ... Full text Cite

Pollinator-mediated selection on flower color allele drives reinforcement.

Journal article Science (New York, N.Y.) · March 2012 Reinforcement is the process by which reduced hybrid fitness generates selection favoring the evolution of stronger prezygotic reproductive barriers between emerging species. Using common-garden field experiments, we quantified the strength of reinforcing ... Full text Cite

Molecular signatures of selection on reproductive character displacement of flower color in Phlox drummondii.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · February 2012 Character displacement, which arises when species diverge in sympatry to decrease competition for resources or reproductive interference, has been observed in a wide variety of plants and animals. A classic example of reproductive character displacement, p ... Full text Cite

Predictable patterns of constraint among anthocyanin-regulating transcription factors in Ipomoea.

Journal article The New phytologist · July 2011 • Transcription factors (TFs) may play a central role in plant morphological evolution. Variation in the nonsynonymous to synonymous nucleotide substitution rate (dN/dS) ratio among TFs can be attributed to either differences in constraint or the frequency ... Full text Cite

Population genetics, pleiotropy, and the preferential fixation of mutations during adaptive evolution.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · March 2011 Ongoing debate centers on whether certain types of mutations are fixed preferentially during adaptive evolution. Although there has been much discussion, no quantitative framework currently exists to test for these biases. Here, we describe a method for di ... Full text Cite

Gene loss and parallel evolution contribute to species difference in flower color.

Journal article Molecular Biology and Evolution · 2011 Cite

Identification of two genes causing reinforcement in the Texas wildflower Phlox drummondii.

Journal article Nature · January 2011 Species formation generates biological diversity and occurs when traits evolve that prevent gene flow between populations. Discerning the number and distribution of genes underlying these traits and, in a few cases, identifying the genes involved, has grea ... Full text Cite

Genetics of resistance to the rust fungus Coleosporium ipomoeae in three species of morning glory (Ipomoea).

Journal article PloS one · January 2011 We examined the genetic basis of resistance to the rust pathogen Coleosporium ipomoea in three host species: Ipomoea purpurea, I. hederacea, and I. coccinea (Convolvulaceae). In crosses between resistant and susceptible individuals, second-generation selfe ... Full text Cite

The pigment-scent connection: Do mutations in regulatory vs. structural anthocyanin genes differentially alter floral scent production in Ipomoea purpurea?

Journal article South African Journal of Botany · October 1, 2010 Many recent studies attempting to assess the biochemical connections between anthocyanin biosynthesis and floral scent production have yielded limited insights due in part to a focus on either field phenotypes of unknown genetic background or artificial ge ... Full text Cite

POPULATION GENETICS, PLEIOTROPY, AND THE PREFERENTIAL FIXATION OF MUTATIONS DURING ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION.

Journal article Evolution · September 14, 2010 Ongoing debate centers on whether certain types of mutations are fixed preferentially during adaptive evolution. Although there has been much discussion, no quantitative framework currently exists to test for these biases. Here, we describe a method for di ... Full text Link to item Cite

Parallel evolution at multiple levels in the origin of hummingbird pollinated flowers in Ipomoea.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · July 2010 A transition in flower color accompanying a shift in pollinator guilds is a prominent and repeated adaptation in angiosperms. In many cases, shifts to similar pollinators are associated with similar flower-color transitions. The extent to which this parall ... Full text Cite

The need for archiving data in evolutionary biology.

Journal article Journal of evolutionary biology · April 2010 Full text Cite

Data archiving.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · March 2010 Full text Cite

Data archiving.

Journal article The American naturalist · February 2010 Full text Open Access Cite

Des Marais Rausher reply

Journal article Nature · December 10, 2009 Full text Cite

Genetic changes contributing to the parallel evolution of red floral pigmentation among Ipomoea species.

Journal article The New phytologist · August 2009 The repeated, independent evolution of phenotypic traits reflects adaptation to similar selective pressures. In some circumstances, parallel phenotypic evolution has a common genetic basis. Here, we investigate the types of genetic change responsible for t ... Full text Cite

The golden rule of reviewing

Journal article American Naturalist · May 1, 2009 A major bottleneck in the time required to publish a scientific or scholarly paper is the speed with which reviews by peers are returned to journals. Peer review is a reciprocal altruistic system in which each individual may perform every task-editors, rev ... Full text Cite

Altered trans-regulatory control of gene expression in multiple anthocyanin genes contributes to adaptive flower color evolution in Mimulus aurantiacus.

Journal article Molecular biology and evolution · February 2009 A fundamental goal in evolutionary biology is to identify the molecular changes responsible for adaptive evolution. In this study, we describe a genetic analysis to determine whether the molecular changes contributing to adaptive flower color divergence in ... Full text Cite

Plant sex and the evolution of plant defenses against herbivores.

Journal article Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci · 2009 Cite

Selection for character displacement is constrained by the genetic architecture of floral traits in the ivyleaf morning glory.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · November 2008 Evolutionary theory predicts that interactions between species such as resource competition or reproductive interference will generate selection for character displacement where similar species co-occur. However, the rate and direction of character displac ... Full text Cite

Variation in constraint versus positive selection as an explanation for evolutionary rate variation among anthocyanin genes.

Journal article Journal of molecular evolution · August 2008 It has been argued that downstream enzymes in metabolic pathways are expected to be subject to reduced selective constraint, while upstream enzymes, particularly those at pathway branch points, are expected to exhibit more frequent adaptive substitution th ... Full text Cite

Natural selection on a leaf-shape polymorphism in the ivyleaf morning glory (Ipomoea hederacea).

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · August 2008 Leaf shape is one of the most variable plant traits. Previous work has provided much indirect evidence that leaf-shape variation is adaptive and that leaf shape influences thermoregulation, water balance, and resistance to natural enemies. Nevertheless, th ... Full text Cite

Escape from adaptive conflict after duplication in an anthocyanin pathway gene.

Journal article Nature · August 2008 Gene duplications have been recognized as an important source of evolutionary innovation and adaptation since at least Haldane, and their varying fates may partly explain the vast disparity in observed genome sizes. The expected fates of most gene duplicat ... Full text Cite

Selection through male function favors smaller floral display size in the common morning glory Ipomoea purpurea (Convolvulaceae).

Journal article The American naturalist · July 2008 In self-compatible, hermaphroditic plants, display size-the number of flowers open on a plant at one time-is believed to be influenced by trade-offs between increasing geitonogamous selfing and decreasing per-flower pollen export as display size increases. ... Full text Cite

Pleiotropic effects of an allele producing white flowers in Ipomoea purpurea.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · May 2008 Although it is generally believed that pollinators are the primary selective agents driving flower-color evolution, it has recently been suggested that pleiotropic effects of mutations affecting flower color may serve as important constraints on floral evo ... Full text Cite

Experimental evidence that selection favors character displacement in the ivyleaf morning glory.

Journal article The American naturalist · January 2008 While there is abundant evidence to suggest that pollinators influence the evolution of plant floral traits, there is little direct evidence that interactions between plant species shape the evolution of such characteristics. The purpose of this study was ... Full text Cite

Evolutionary transitions in floral color

Journal article International Journal of Plant Sciences · January 1, 2008 The tremendous diversity in flower color among angiosperms implies that there have been numerous evolutionary transitions in this character. The conventional wisdom is that a large proportion of these transitions reflect adaptation to novel pollinator regi ... Full text Cite

Relaxed constraint and evolutionary rate variation between basic helix-loop-helix floral anthocyanin regulators in Ipomoea.

Journal article Molecular biology and evolution · December 2007 Regulatory genes are believed to play a large role in morphological diversification and are often characterized by elevated rates of evolution. Whether this rapid evolution is primarily due to adaptive differentiation or relaxed selective constraint remain ... Full text Cite

Selection through female fitness helps to explain the maintenance of male flowers.

Journal article The American naturalist · May 2007 Andromonoecy, the production of both male and hermaphrodite flowers in the same individual, is a widespread phenomenon that occurs in approximately 4,000 species distributed in 33 families. Hypotheses for the evolution of andromonoecy suggest that the prod ... Full text Cite

Natural selection on a polymorphic disease-resistance locus in Ipomoea purpurea.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · February 2007 Although disease-resistance polymorphisms are common in natural plant populations, the mechanisms responsible for this variation are not well understood. Theoretical models predict that balancing selection can maintain polymorphism within a population if t ... Full text Cite

The role of male flowers in andromonoecious species: energetic costs and siring success in Solanum carolinense L.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · February 2007 Two non-mutually exclusive hypotheses regarding the benefits of andromonoecy (producing perfect and female-sterile flowers on the same plant) are tested using Solanum carolinense. Results indicate that (1) staminate flowers are cheaper to produce than perf ... Full text Cite

Close clustering of anthers and stigma in Ipomoea hederacea enhances prezygotic isolation from Ipomoea purpurea.

Journal article The New phytologist · January 2007 Theory predicts that, for taxa that are already substantially postzygotically isolated but for which hybrid mating is still costly, enhanced prezygotic isolation will be favored. Here, we tested this hypothesis by examining the potential contribution of on ... Full text Cite

New Phytologist on plant evolution.

Journal article The New phytologist · January 2007 Full text Cite

Evolution: Editorial

Journal article Evolution · January 1, 2007 Full text Cite

Environmental variation mediates the deleterious effects of Coleosporium ipomoeae on Ipomoea purpurea.

Journal article Ecology · March 2006 Variation in the environment is common within and between natural populations and may influence selection on plant resistance by altering the level of damage or the fitness consequences of damage from plant enemies. While much is known about how environmen ... Full text Cite

Major-gene resistance to the rust pathogen Coleosporium ipomoeae is common in natural populations of Ipomoea purpurea.

Journal article The New phytologist · January 2006 The genetic basis of resistance to pathogens is well studied in crops, yet our understanding of the evolution of this trait in natural populations will be improved by determining how resistance is inherited in a wide range of plant-pathogen interactions. H ... Full text Cite

Evolution: Editorial

Journal article Evolution · January 1, 2006 Full text Cite

Neutral evolution of the nonbinding region of the anthocyanin regulatory gene Ipmyb1 in Ipomoea.

Journal article Genetics · August 2005 Plant transcription factors often contain domains that evolve very rapidly. Although it has been suggested that this rapid evolution may contribute substantially to phenotypic differentiation among species, this suggestion has seldom been tested explicitly ... Full text Cite

Plant evolutionary ecology.

Journal article The New phytologist · January 2005 Full text Cite

Natural selection on extrafloral nectar production in Chamaecrista fasciculata: the costs and benefits of a mutualism trait.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · December 2004 Cost-benefit models of the evolution of mutualism predict that the current state of mutualism results from trade-offs between fitness costs of mutualist traits and the fitness benefits of association. We test the assumptions of such models by measuring pat ... Full text Cite

Evolution of mixed strategies of plant defense allocation against natural enemies.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · August 2004 In this study we present a simple optimization model for the evolution of defensive strategies (tolerance and resistance) of plants against their natural enemies. The model specifically evaluates the consequences of introducing variable costs and benefits ... Full text Cite

Effects of variation at the flower-colour A locus on mating system parameters in Ipomoea purpurea.

Journal article Molecular ecology · July 2004 Although alleles at both the W and A loci in the common morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea, produce similar white-flowered phenotypes, these alleles differ by over an order of magnitude in average frequency. In this initial attempt to determine the causes of ... Full text Cite

Genetic changes associated with floral adaptation restrict future evolutionary potential.

Journal article Nature · April 2004 A commonly accepted evolutionary principle is that adaptive change constrains the potential directions of future evolutionary change. One manifestation of this is Dollo's law, which states that character elimination is irreversible. Although the common occ ... Full text Cite

Evolutionary rate variation in anthocyanin pathway genes.

Journal article Molecular biology and evolution · November 2003 Over a broad taxonomic range that spans monocots and dicots, upstream enzymes of the anthocyanin pigment pathway have evolved less rapidly than downstream enzymes. In this article we show that this pattern is also evident within the genus Ipomoea. Specific ... Full text Cite

Analysis of a chalcone synthase mutant in Ipomoea purpurea reveals a novel function for flavonoids: amelioration of heat stress.

Journal article Molecular ecology · May 2003 Flavonoids are thought to function in the plant stress response and male fertility in some, but not all, species. We examined the effects of a self-fertile chalcone synthase null allele, a, for the effects of heat and light stress on fertilization success ... Full text Cite

The genetic basis of a flower-color polymorphism in the common

Journal article Journal of Heredity · 2003 Cite

Bioassay versus chemical assay: Measuring the impact of induced and constitutive resistance on herbivores in the field

Journal article Oecologia · December 1, 2002 Studies of induced plant resistance usually either examine physiological/chemical mechanisms or explore the ecological and evolutionary role of induced resistance. To connect these two methods of study, data are needed that address the relationships betwee ... Full text Cite

Testing for environmentally induced bias in phenotypic estimates of natural selection: theory and practice.

Journal article The American naturalist · October 2002 Measuring natural selection has been a fundamental goal of evolutionary biology for more than a century, and techniques developed in the last 20 yr have provided relatively simple means for biologists to do so. Many of these techniques, however, share a co ... Full text Cite

The evolution of tolerance to deer herbivory: modifications caused by the abundance of insect herbivores.

Journal article Proceedings. Biological sciences · June 2002 Although recent evidence indicates that coevolutionary interactions between species often vary on a biogeographical scale, little consideration has been given to the processes responsible for producing this pattern. One potential explanation is that change ... Full text Cite

Distinguishing between selection and population expansion in an experimental lineage of bacteriophage T7.

Journal article Genetics · May 2002 Experimental evolution of short-lived organisms offers the opportunity to study the dynamics of polymorphism over time in a controlled environment. Here, we characterize DNA polymorphism data over time for four genes in bacteriophage T7. Our experiment ran ... Full text Cite

Comparing the consequences of induced and constitutive plant resistance for herbivore population dynamics

Journal article American Naturalist · January 1, 2002 Although it has been suggested that induced and constitutive plant resistance should have different effects on insect herbivore population dynamics, there is little experimental evidence that plant resistance can influence herbivore populations longer than ... Full text Cite

Diffuse selection on resistance to deer herbivory in the ivyleaf morning glory, Ipomoea hederacea.

Journal article The American naturalist · October 2001 Recent work defines coevolution between plants and herbivores as pairwise when the pattern of selection on resistance traits and the response to selection are both independent of the presence or absence of other herbivores. In addition, for a pairwise resp ... Full text Cite

Co-evolution and plant resistance to natural enemies.

Journal article Nature · June 2001 Co-evolution between plants and their natural enemies is generally believed to have generated much of the Earth's biological diversity. A process analogous to co-evolution occurs in agricultural systems, in which natural enemies adapt to crop resistance in ... Full text Cite

Two modes of host-enemy coevolution

Journal article Population Ecology · January 1, 2001 The process of coevolution between host and enemy has traditionally been viewed as an evolutionary arms race between resistance and counterresistance. The arms race metaphor of coevolution is widely accepted because it explains the evolution of many charac ... Full text Cite

Floral-color polymorphism in Ipomoea purpurea: biased inheritance of the dark allele is not a general explanation for its maintenance.

Journal article The Journal of heredity · November 2000 A previous investigation reported the existence in a single population of the morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea) of non-Mendelian inheritance at the W locus influencing flower color. In addition, it was shown that the magnitude of biased inheritance in that ... Full text Cite

Balancing selection on a floral polymorphism.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · April 2000 The common morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea, exhibits a flower color polymorphism at the W locus throughout the southeastern North America. The W locus controls whether flowers will be darkly pigmented (WW), lightly pigmented (Ww), or white with pigmented r ... Full text Cite

Genetic Constraints and Selection Acting on Tolerance to Herbivory in the Common Morning Glory Ipomoea purpurea.

Journal article The American naturalist · December 1999 Tolerance to herbivory minimizes the effects of herbivory on plant fitness. In the presence of herbivores, maximal levels of tolerance may be expected to evolve. In many plant species, however, tolerance is found at an intermediate level. Tolerance may be ... Full text Cite

Patterns of evolutionary rate variation among genes of the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway.

Journal article Molecular biology and evolution · February 1999 The anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway is responsible for the production of anthocyanin pigments in plant tissues and shares a number of enzymes with other biochemical pathways. The six core structural genes of this pathway have been cloned and characterized ... Full text Cite

The role of inbreeding depression in maintaining the mixed mating system of the common morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea

Journal article Evolution · 1999 Theoretical studies show that, although inbreeding depression (ID) will counterbalance the transmission advantage of selfing, it can only maintain a mixed mating system in plants when at least one of the following two conditions is met: (1) there is a posi ... Cite

Phylogenetic systematics of Ipomoea (Convolvulaceae) based on ITS and Waxy sequences

Journal article Systematic Botany · January 1, 1999 Ipomoea is a large and complex genus containing over 600 species of vines and shrubs widely distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. The phylogeny of 40 species representing the three currently recognized subgenera and nine sections within the ge ... Full text Cite

Frequency-dependent pollen discounting contributes to maintenance of a mixed mating system in the common morning glory Ipomoea purpurea.

Journal article The American naturalist · November 1998 Pollen discounting, a reduction in outcross success associated with increased selfing, was evaluated in the common morning glory Ipomoea purpurea. A field experiment was conducted to estimate selfing rates and outcross success using small arrays of plants ... Full text Cite

Control of expression patterns of anthocyanin structural genes by two loci in the common morning glory

Journal article Genes and Genetic Systems · January 1, 1998 Two loci producing white flowers have been identified in the common morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea. At the W locus, ww individuals produce flowers with white corollas and pigmented rays, while at the A locus, aa individuals produce flowers with white coro ... Full text Cite

EXPERIMENTAL MANIPULATION OF PUTATIVE SELECTIVE AGENTS PROVIDES EVIDENCE FOR THE ROLE OF NATURAL ENEMIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT DEFENSE.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · October 1997 Although biologists have long assumed that plant resistance characters evolved under selection exerted by such natural enemies as herbivores and pathogens, experimental evidence for this assumption is sparse. We present evidence that natural enemies exert ... Full text Cite

Evolution of plant resistance to multiple herbivores: Quantifying diffuse coevolution

Journal article American Naturalist · April 25, 1997 Studies of coevolution in plant-herbivore systems have typically focused on tight, pairwise interactions between one herbivore and one host plant species. Diffuse coevolution, by contrast, has received much less empirical attention, presumably because impr ... Full text Cite

SELECTION ON A FLORAL COLOR POLYMORPHISM IN THE TALL MORNING GLORY (IPOMOEA PURPUREA): TRANSMISSION SUCCESS OF THE ALLELES THROUGH POLLEN.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · February 1997 The W locus, a codominant locus influencing floral pigment intensity in the tall morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea, is polymorphic throughout the southeastern United States. Previous studies suggest that this polymorphism is actively maintained by balancing ... Full text Cite

Variation in the defense strategies of plants: Are resistance and tolerance mutually exclusive?

Journal article Ecology · January 1, 1997 Plants can employ two general strategies to defend themselves against herbivory: they can either reduce the amount of damage they experience (resistance), or they can tolerate herbivore damage. Theoretical considerations suggest that, in many cases, tolera ... Full text Cite

Do floral pigmentation genes also influence resistance to enemies? The W locus in Ipomoea purpurea

Journal article Ecology · January 1, 1997 Biochemical pathways that produce floral pigments often also produce secondary compounds that are believed to protect plants from natural enemies. Mutations that affect floral pigment patterns are thus also expected to influence the production of compounds ... Full text Cite

Genetic analysis of coevolution between plants and their natural enemies.

Journal article Trends in genetics : TIG · June 1996 Plants exhibit a diverse array of characteristics that have been interpreted as functioning primarily as defenses against natural enemies, such as pathogens and herbivores. Recent genetic analyses of resistance provide evidence supporting this interpretati ... Full text Cite

Testing adaptationism: A comment on Orzack and Sober

Journal article American Naturalist · January 1, 1996 Full text Cite

Tradeoff between resistance and tolerance to herbivore damage in a morning glory

Journal article Nature · October 12, 1995 MANY plant characters, including toxic secondary compounds, trichomes, spines and tough, nutrient-poor leaves have evolved at least in part as defences against pathogens and herbivores, including phytophagous insects1–-6. Models of the evolution ... Full text Cite

Clumped distribution patterns in goldenrod aphids: genetic and ecological mechanisms

Journal article Ecological Entomology · January 1, 1995 Abstract. The aphids Uroleucon tissoti and U.nigrotuberculatum both exhibit significantly aggregated distribution patterns across clumps of their common host plant Solidago altissima, the tall goldenrod. However, U.nigrotuberculatum is significantly more a ... Full text Cite

Interactions between herbivorous insects and plant-insect coevolution

Journal article American Naturalist · January 1, 1994 Full text Cite

Effects of a locus affecting floral pigmentation in Ipomoea purpurea on female fitness components.

Journal article Genetics · August 1993 A locus influencing floral pigment intensity in the morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea, is polymorphic throughout the southeastern United States. Previous work has suggested that the white allele at this locus has a transmission advantage during mating becaus ... Full text Cite

PATTERNS OF SELECTION ON PHYTOPHAGE RESISTANCE IN IPOMOEA PURPUREA.

Journal article Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · June 1993 Full text Cite

Induced resistance in Ipomoea purpurea

Journal article Ecology · January 1, 1993 Induced changes that occur in the foliage of the annual morning glory when subjected to prior damage reduce the growth rate, consumption rate, and growth efficiency of larvae of the generalist lepidopteran Spodoptera eridania. They also alter the pattern o ... Full text Cite

The measurement of selection on quantitative traits: biases due to environmental covariances between traits and fitness

Journal article Evolution · 1992 Evaluates the use of reegression techniques for estimating the direction and magnitude of selection from measurements on phenotypes. Environmental correlations between fitness and the traits examined may produce biased estimates of selection gradients. The ... Cite

Quantifying insect movement in the field

Journal article Environmental Entomology · December 1, 1991 We describe a method of quantifying insect paths in the held for use in ecological and behavioral studies. First, we discuss how continuous and curvilinear paths traced by moving insects can be approximated with a series of connected straight lines. Next w ... Full text Cite

Egg load influences search intensity, host selectivity, and clutch size in Battus philenor butterflies

Journal article Journal of Insect Behavior · March 1, 1990 Numerous studies have documented the influence of environmental factors such as host plant species and host quality on the oviposition behavior of female insects. This paper shows that an internal physiological factor, the number of mature eggs a female ca ... Full text Cite

In Response to Tatar

Journal article Oikos · May 1989 Full text Cite

The evolution of resistance to herbivory in Ipomoea purpurea. I. Attempts to detect selection

Journal article Evolution · 1989 Phenotypic regression analysis revealed directional selection for all 5 characters (plant size and resistance to 4 types of herbivores) and indicated that plant size and resistance to corn earworm Heliothis zea damage were subject to stabilizing selection. ... Cite

The evolution of resistance to herbivory in Ipomoea purpurea. II. Natural selection by insects and costs of resistance

Journal article Evolution · 1989 The annual morning glory exhibits genetic variation in resistance to 4 different types of insects. For 3 of these types, most of the genetic variation is additive. Removal of insect herbivores increased the number of seeds by 20% and eliminated additive ge ... Cite

The effects of inducible plant defenses on herbivore populations. 1. Mobile herbivores in continuous time.

Journal article American Naturalist · January 1, 1989 Describes a quantitative framework that may be used for understanding the effects of inducible plant defenses on herbivore populations. Procedures were used for modeling continuous, structured populations to examine the dynamics of interactions between ind ... Full text Cite

Is Coevolution Dead?

Journal article Ecology · August 1988 Full text Cite

Clutch size adjustment by a swallowtail butterfly

Journal article Nature · January 1, 1988 Because life-history characters such as breeding schedule, reproductive investment, and age-specific survivorship exhibit great variation in nature and are closely linked to individual fitness, the development of a theory of life-history evolution is a maj ... Full text Cite

Genetic differences and phenotypic plasticity as causes of variation in oviposition preference in Battus philenor.

Journal article Oecologia · November 1987 Bradshaw (1965) proposed that phenotypic plasticity would be more common than adaptive genetic variability in species for which environmental fluctuations occur over periods roughly equal to that species' generation time. In an effort to examine this notio ... Full text Cite

The evolution of habitat preference II. Evolutionary genetic stability under soft selection

Journal article Theoretical Population Biology · January 1, 1987 A previous analysis of a single-locus, two-allele model of the evolution of habitat selection revealed that preference evolves toward equalization of parental investment in offspring placed in two different habitats in which population size is regulated in ... Full text Cite

Components of conspecific host discrimination behavior in the butterfly Battus philenor.

Journal article Ecology · January 1, 1987 Pipevine swallowtail butterflies discriminated among Aristolochia reticulata host plants differing in leaf quality both before and after landing. Host plants on which females landed and oviposited were smaller, possessed longer buds, and bore a higher perc ... Full text Cite

Switching and the pattern of host use by Battus philenor butterflies.

Journal article Ecology · January 1, 1987 A model is presented that accounts mechanisticaly for the seasonal change in host-searching behavior exhibited by pipevine swallowtail butterflies in E Texas. The model assumes that the proportion of females searching for broad- (or narrow-) leaved hosts r ... Full text Cite

Costs and benefits of plant resistance to herbivory.

Journal article American Naturalist · January 1, 1987 Presents a graphical model which states that allocatiitn of plant resources to defense against herbivores evolves so as to maximize the difference between benefits and costs associated with resistance. A method for quantification of such costs, using genet ... Full text Cite

Joint effects of competitors and herbivores on growth and reproduction in Aristolochia reticulata.

Journal article Ecology · January 1, 1985 Texas Dutchman's pipevine were grown alone and in competition with either or both little bluestem grass Schizachyrium scoparium and southern dewberry Rubus trivialis. Herbivory on A. reticulata by the pipevine swallowtail butterfly Battus philenor and on S ... Full text Cite

Variability for host preference in insect populations: Mechanistic and evolutionary models

Journal article Journal of Insect Physiology · January 1, 1985 Two models that explain variation in behaviour associated with locating and accepting different habitats (host plants) are described and analyzed. One model describes the dynamics of search-mode ontogeny in Battus philenor butterflies. This model predicts ... Full text Cite

Relationship of phenotypic and genetic variation in Plantago lanceolata to disease caused by Fusarium moniliforme var. subglutinans.

Journal article Oecologia · December 1984 Naturally established individuals of Plantago lanceolata with the inflorescence disease caused by Fusarium moniliforme var. subglutinans had more inflorescences and were more likely to be male-sterile than healthy plants. Half-sib families planted in the f ... Full text Cite

Plants and herbivores: herbivory.

Journal article Science (New York, N.Y.) · November 1984 Full text Cite

The evolution of habitat preference in subdivided populations.

Journal article Evolution · 1984 When density-dependent population regulation occurs independently in different habitats within a mosaic environment, a form of frequency-dependent selection can maintain genetic variation at a single locus affecting habitat preference. The conditions under ... Cite

Tradeoffs in performance on different hosts: evidence from within- and between-site variation in the beetle Deloyala guttata.

Journal article Evolution · 1984 Models of host race formation and sympatric speciation in phytophagous insects assume that genotypes that have high viability and/or fecundity on one host species have low viability and/or fecundity on others. This report describes experiments designed to ... Cite

Coevolution: A General Theory

Journal article Ecology · August 1983 Full text Cite

Alteration of oviposition behavior by Battus philenor butterflies in response to variation in host-plant density.

Journal article Ecology · January 1, 1983 As host-plant density increases, the oviposition rate of the pipevine swallowtail increases, then levels off. By contrast, alighting rates continue to increase with host density approximately linearly. The leveling off of oviposition rates is caused by a d ... Full text Cite

Demographic consequences of discrimination among conspecific host plants by Battus philenor butterflies.

Journal article Ecology · January 1, 1983 Discrimination has no detectable effect on larval growth rates or on predispersal mortality but does appear to enhance larval survival by increasing larval size at dispersal. The effects of discrimination among conspecific hosts on larval survival are simi ... Full text Cite

Conditioning and genetic variation as causes of individual variation in the oviposition behaviour of the tortoise beetle, Deloyala guttata

Journal article Animal Behaviour · January 1, 1983 Individuals of the tortoise beetle (Deloyala guttata) from sites containing different host plants differ genetically in performance on different hosts. Because individual variation in habitat (host) preference could contribute to the maintenance of these g ... Full text Cite

Host plant selection by Battus philenor butterflies: Evidence for individual differences in foraging behaviour

Journal article Animal Behaviour · January 1, 1983 A previous study reported that individual females of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor, exhibit different search modes when searching for host plants on which to oviposit. However, an alternative explanation for the results of that study ... Full text Cite

The Effect of Native Vegetation on the Susceptibility of Aristolochia Reticulata (Aristolochiaceae) to Herbivore Attack

Journal article Ecology · October 1981 Plants growing in dense stands of native vegetation are often less susceptible to herbivore attack than isolated plants or plants growing in monoculture. Three mechanisms have been suggested that may account for this phenomenon; (1) maintenance of ... Full text Cite

Host Plant Selection by Battus philenor Butterflies: The Roles of Predation, Nutrition, and Plant Chemistry

Journal article Ecological Monographs · March 1981 In a previous study it was demonstrated that a major selection pressure responsible for seasonal changes in the searching and oviposition preferences of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae), is a seasonal ... Full text Cite

Pre- and post-alighting host discrimination by Euphydryas editha butterflies: The behavioural mechanisms causing clumped distributions of egg clusters

Journal article Animal Behaviour · January 1, 1981 Egg clusters of the checkerspot butterfly, Euphydryas editha, are contagiously distributed among host plants (Pedicularis semibarbata) at one mid-elevation montaine site in California. Large, isolated plants receive more egg clusters than is expected from ... Full text Cite

Herbivory, Plant Density, and Plant Reproductive Success: The Effect of Battus Philenor on Aristolochia Reticulata

Journal article Ecology · August 1980 The pipevine swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor, normally consumes °45% of the annual leaf crop of its primary host plant in east Texas (USA), Aristolochia reticulata. Feeding by larvae significantly increases plant mortality and decreases plan ... Full text Cite

The chemistry of coevolution.

Journal article Science (New York, N.Y.) · February 1980 Full text Cite

Larval Habitat Suitability and Oviposition Preference in Three Related Butterflies

Journal article Ecology · June 1979 A simple hypothesis about habitat choice by ovipositing butterflies is that females prefer to lay their eggs on plants in habitats where juvenile growth and survival are best. This hypothesis was evaluated by studying 3 Aristolochia—feeding swallow ... Full text Cite

Egg recognition: Its advantage to a butterfly

Journal article Animal Behaviour · January 1, 1979 Ovipositing females of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor, detect the presence of eggs laid by other females on their host plants. The presence of eggs on a plant inhibits oviposition by a female that discovers it. The selection pressure r ... Full text Cite

Search image for leaf shape in a butterfly.

Journal article Science (New York, N.Y.) · June 1978 The butterfly Battus philenor forms search images for leaf shape when searching for its two larval host plants in southeast Texas. This behavior increases the rate of discovery of host plants and permits females to track changes in relative host plant suit ... Full text Cite

Molecular analysis of structural genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis in natural colored cotton.

Journal article Crop Science: a journal serving the international community of crop scientists Cite

Molecular analysis of structural genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis in natural colored cotton.

Journal article Crop Science: a journal serving the international community of crop scientists Featured Publication Full text Cite