The process and consequences of natural selection in wild plant species will be pursued in three specific and complementary research projects. In the first, the causes and evolutionary significance of variation in life history and reproductive traits within and among different populations of several sympatric wild plant species in the eastern Sierra Mountains will be investigated. Another project will continue ongoing experimental studies of the constancy of genetic parameter estimates (heritability and genetic correlation) in wild radish in which growing conditions will be manipulated to evaluate the rate and direction of evolution under diverse environmental conditions. The third project will involve work to establish the relative importance of seed dispersal and post-dispersal events as determinants of the species distributions of economically important trees in a Peruvian rainforest.
