The unique morphological basis and parallel evolutionary history of personate flowers in .

Premise: Adaptive radiation in ecologically and morphologically diverse plant lineages presents an opportunity to investigate the rapid evolution of novel floral traits. While some types of floral traits, such as flower color, are well-characterized, other types of complex morphologies remain understudied. One example is occluded personate flowers, dorso-ventrally compressed flowers with obstructed floral passageways, which have evolved in multiple genera, but have only been characterized from snapdragon.

Ecological Diversification in an Adaptive Radiation of Plants: The Role of De Novo Mutation and Introgression.

Adaptive radiations are characterized by rapid ecological diversification and speciation events, leading to fuzzy species boundaries between ecologically differentiated species. Adaptive radiations are therefore key systems for understanding how species are formed and maintained, including the role of de novo mutations versus preexisting variation in ecological adaptation and the genome-wide consequences of hybridization events. For example, adaptive introgression, where beneficial alleles are transferred between lineages through hybridization, may fuel diversification in adaptive radiations and facilitate adaptation to new environments.

Ecological diversification in an adaptive radiation of plants: the role of de novo mutation and introgression.

Adaptive radiations are characterized by rapid ecological diversification and speciation events, leading to fuzzy species boundaries between ecologically differentiated species. Adaptive radiations are therefore key systems for understanding how species are formed and maintained, including the role of de novo mutations vs. pre-existing variation in ecological adaptation and the genome-wide consequences of hybridization events.

How the switch to hummingbird pollination has greatly contributed to our understanding of evolutionary processes.

The evolutionary switch to hummingbird pollination exemplifies complex adaptation, requiring evolutionary change in multiple component traits. Despite this complexity, diverse lineages have converged on hummingbird-adapted flowers on a relatively short evolutionary timescale. Here, I review how features of the genetic basis of adaptation contribute to this remarkable evolutionary lability.