Team Echinacea measuring plants in big batch
The qGen1 (quantitative genetics) experiment is designed to quantify the heritability of traits in Echinacea angustifolia. We are especially interested in Darwinian fitness. Could fitness be heritable? During the summer of 2002 we crossed plants from the 1996 & 1997 cohorts of exPt1. We harvested heads, dissected achenes, and germinated seeds over the winter. In the Spring of 2003 we planted the resulting 4468 seedlings (this great number gave rise to this experiment’s nickname “big batch”). In 2016 we assessed survival and fitness measures of the qGen1 plants. 2,187 plants in qGen1 were alive in 2016. Of those, 5% flowered in 2016 and 49% have yet to flower.
Start year: 2003
Location: Experimental plot 1
Overlaps with: qGen2 & qGen3
Physical specimens: We harvested 116 heads from qGen1 in 2016. These heads will be processed in the lab to determine achene count and seed set.
Data collected: We collected fitness measures using handheld computers.
Products: We have an awesome dataset that we will share once the paper is published. Ruth Shaw is working on an analysis of the qGen1 dataset.
You can find more information about Heritability of fitness–qGen1 and links to previous flog posts regarding this experiment at the background page for the experiment.
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