Project Description: 

Growth and reproduction are highly regulated processes in sunflower, which has a stem that tracks the daily progress of the sun across the sky until it blooms and produces disks that are clusters of many individual flowers. Light interacts with the circadian clock regulate stem growth to yield the daily solar tracking oscillation, and the same integration of internal and external signals likely occurs as new whorls individual florets open daily to present pollen and receptive stigmas at reproductive maturity. Because the timing and nature of environmental signals varies across the landscape, natural variation in how stem growth responds to these cues may evolve to allow plants to flower at the correct time of the season. Indeed, we have been able to map genetic loci that distinguish when the stems wild sunflowers from Manitoba and Kansas start moving westward relative to dawn and eastward relative to dusk.  The undergraduate(s) working on this project will help complete field studies to determine whether there are geographic trends in these solar tracking traits among wild sunflowers and may also help conduct genotyping and gene expression studies to define those intervals and underlying candidate genes further. We are also curious to determine whether environmental control of floret maturation shows similar variation or geographic patterning, and the undergraduate(s) working on this project may conduct observational and time-lapse photography studies to examine this possibility. For both solar tracking and floret maturation, the SPUR student(s) will assist with projects being performed in controlled conditions on campus as well as in field conditions in Berkeley, Albany, or Davis.

Department: 
PMB
Undergraduate's Role: 

The undergraduate researchers will grow, care for, and test various sunflower species and lines for their solar tracking and floret maturation behaviors. This fieldwork will involve potting and caring for plants in outdoor conditions (including watering, weeding, etc), travel to and from field sites, filming plants, collecting tissue, and taking other phenotypic information. They will also be involved in data entry and image analysis. The student may also contribute to other ongoing projects looking at flowering time adaptation and domestication in monkeyflowers and sunflowers, and there may also be opportunities for learning gene expression and tissue culture techniques for plant transformation to assess the functions of candidate genes. The student will participate in weekly Blackman lab group meetings as well.

Undergraduate's Qualifications: 

Students with strong interests in plant-environment interaction, evolution, and ecology will find the experience most rewarding. Attention to detail and good record keeping skills are essential. The student should be comfortable and enthusiastic about working in field conditions for extended periods, and they will be expected to follow guidelines for safely doing so. Students who are interested in working full time (wage or stipend support may be available) are especially encouraged to apply.

Location: 
On Campus
Hours: 
More than 12 hours
Project URL: 
nature.berkeley.edu/blackmanlab