| RESEARCH IN PLANT MATING SYSTEM EVOLUTION My work focuses on the evolution of mating systems, a prominent adaptation in higher plants. In current research, we are addressing an area of long-standing interest and controversy in plant mating system literature: the evolutionary dynamics of mixed mating systems. We use a variety of approaches, including field and greenhouse experiments, molecular markers for population genetic studies, and phylogenetic methods. Angiosperms are remarkable for their diversity of mating systems, with species ranging from highly self-fertilizing (selfing) to obligately cross-fertilizing (outcrossing). In a large proportion of angiosperm species, outcrossing is promoted by self-incompatibility, a mechanism that allows a plant to recognize and reject its own pollen. Transitions between outcrossing and selfing are thought to be common in the evolutionary history of angiosperms. The research in my lab focuses on Leptosiphon (formerly Linanthus), a genus of annual plants of western North America in the Phlox family (Polemoniaceae). Self-incompatibility (SI) is present in some species of Leptosiphon. Others are self-compatible (SC) and highly selfing. In the past few years, our research has focused on Leptosiphon jepsonii, a species with mixed mating. A narrow endemic of the California North Coast Range, L. jepsonii represents an intermediate condition and perhaps a transitional state between SI and complete selfing. The species exhibits a remarkable form of reproduction in which flowers are initally SI when they open but become fully SC after one or two days. In all populations sampled, however, some individuals are SC as soon as flowers open. Moreover, the proportion of early SC individuals varies dramatically among populations at this small geographic scale. The presence of variation within and among populations in the timing of SC presents a unique opportunity to examine the evolutionary dynamics of mixed mating and address a number of questions in plant mating system evolution that remain elusive. What is the genetic architecture of variation in mating system traits? Is mixed selfing and outcrossing an evolutionarily stable strategy? How does the strength of SI affect S-allele diversity and how, in turn, does this allelic diversity affect the evolution of SI modifiers? UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN LONG-TERM EXPERIMENTAL ECOLOGY
With colleagues Dr. Lisa Clough and David Knowles and funding from the NSF Department of Undergraduate Education, we established a site for an undergraduate project in long-term experimental plant ecology at a site near the ECU campus. The project website can be accessed at http://www.ecu.edu/longtermecology/ . Adapting a successful program at Southern Illinois State University, we set up an experiment to investigate the effects of nutrient addition and mowing on the diversity and composition of a pine flat plant community. Undergraduate students have been involved in all aspects of the project, from marking out experimental plots, to characterization of soils, to vegetation sampling. The experimental plots contribute to the curriculum of our sophomore ecology lab course and an upper level course in vegetation sampling and analysis. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS * denotes undergraduate student author Goodwillie, C. and M. C. Knight*. Inbreeding depression and mixed mating in Leptosiphon jepsonii: a comparison of three populations. Annals of Botany, 98: 351-360.
Goodwillie, C., C. Ritland and K. Ritland. 2006. The genetic basis of floral traits associated with mating system evolution in Leptosiphon (Polemoniaceae): an analysis of quantitative trait loci. Evolution 60: 491-504. Goodwillie, C., S. Kalisz and C. Eckert. 2005. The evolutionary enigma of mixed mating in plants: Occurrence, theory and empirical observations. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 36:47-79. Goodwillie, C. and J. M. Ness*. 2005. Correlated evolution in floral morphology and the timing of self-compatibility in Leptosiphon jepsonii (Polemoniaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences 166(5): 741-751. Goodwillie, C., K. L. Partis* and J. W. West*. 2004. Transient self-incompatibility confers delayed selfing in Leptosiphon jepsonii (Polemoniaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences 165(3):387-394. Goodwillie, C., M. K. May, J. W. West* and C. S. McKeon. 2004. Convergence in the leaf shape of vines: A test of the Carolina flora using phylogenetic comparative methods. Southeastern Naturalist 3(2):277-288. Goodwillie, C. 2001. Pollen limitation and the evolution of self-compatibility in Linanthus(Polemoniaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences 162: 1283-1292. Goodwillie, C. 1999. Multiple origins of self-compatibility in Linanthus section Leptosiphon: Phylogenetic evidence from ITS sequence data. Evolution 53(5): 1387-1395. Goodwillie, C. 1997. The genetic control of self-incompatibility in Linanthus parviflorus (Polemoniaceae). Heredity 79: 424-432. | 
