Description: In 2001, researchers on Team Echinacea planted an experimental plot to assess how parental relatedness affects progeny traits, especially fitness. Seedlings were generated from one of three cross types: between maternal half siblings; between plants from the the same remnant, but not sharing a maternal parent; and between individuals from different remnants. Seedlings were germinated and grown in a greenhouse until the plugs were planted in Experimental plot 1. Seedlings were randomly assigned locations within the experimental plot and planted in spring 2001. Every summer, team members assess survival, growth, and reproductive fitness. We harvest heads in the fall and during the winter we count fruits and assess seed set.
Start year: 2001
Location: Experimental plot 1
Dataset: See Kittelson’s Functional Traits dataset where Garden = ‘INB1’
Products:
Shaw, R. G., S. Wagenius and C. J. Geyer. 2015. The susceptibility of Echinacea angustifolia to a specialist aphid: eco-evolutionary perspective on genotypic variation and demographic consequences. Journal of Ecology 103:809-818. PDF
Kittelson, P., S. Wagenius, R. Nielsen, S. Qazi, M. Howe, G. Kiefer, and R. G. Shaw. 2015. Leaf functional traits, herbivory, and genetic diversity in Echinacea: Implications for fragmented populations. Ecology 96:1877–1886. PDF
Ridley CE, Hangelbroek HH, Wagenius S, Stanton-Geddes J, Shaw RG, 2011. The effect of plant inbreeding and stoichiometry on interactions with herbivores in nature: Echinacea angustifolia and its specialist aphid. PLoS ONE 6(9): e24762. http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024762
Wagenius, S., H. H. Hangelbroek, C. E. Ridley, and R. G. Shaw. 2010. Biparental inbreeding and interremnant mating in a perennial prairie plant: fitness consequences for progeny in their first eight years. Evolution 64:761-771. Abstract | PDF
Ruth G. Shaw, Charles J. Geyer, Stuart Wagenius, Helen H. Hangelbroek, and Julie R. Etterson. 2008. Unifying life-history analyses for inference of fitness and population growth. American Naturalist 172: E35 – E47. Abstract | PDF | Supplemental Material
Overlaps with: Phenology and fitness in P1
Read updates about this experiment on our flog (field blog) as written by members of Team Echinacea.
