Abstract
Insect resistance and life history evolution in wild and feral Brassicas: integrating key processes in population establishment and persistence The aim with this project is to investigate how insect herbivory and seed dormancy affect fitness and population processes in wild and weedy Brassicaceae. As the mechanisms and immediate effects of Brassica crop hybridisation are becoming increasingly well documented, there is an urgent need to predict to what extent acquiring a GM-trait will increase plant fitness in the wild, in terms of plant abundance and altered species distributions. I will quantify how insect herbivory affects plant fitness in Brassica rapa ssp. sylvestris, using experimental populations. Reciprocal transplantation experiments using Sinapis arvensis will be used to study effects of adaptation to local herbivore pressure. The results will be used to predict to what extent insect herbivory affects fitness and species distribution. I will also investigate if S. arvensis, B. rapa ssp. sylvestris and Raphanus raphanistrum differ in seed germination requirements, and if this can explain the decline of B. rapa ssp. sylvestris and R. raphanistrum in the agricultural landscape while S. arvensis is abundant. The impact of gene flow from neighbouring populations to wild B. rapa ssp. sylvestris will be quantified using microsatellite markers. My project adds to the FORMAS project “Riskbedömning vid användandet av transgena insektsresistenta oljeväxter”.
Sweden