Quicklinks

Home » People » Graduate Students » Foltz, Britnie

Britnie René Foltz

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Add to address book)
Lab Website →

Education

B.S. Biological Sciences, Indiana University South Bend 2008

Research Interests

I am interested in plant pollination ecology and evolution of mating systems. My current research focuses on the tradeoff between pollen transfer ability and pollen compeition in Ipomoea purpurea (common morning glory).

The main question we are interested in with this research is:

Is genetic variation in pollen number and size maintained by a) higher fitness of small but numerous pollen during the pollen transfer (pollination) stage and b) higher fitness of larger but fewer pollen during the pollen tube growth (fertilization) stage?

We are conducting greenhouse and common garden experiments, as well as conducting genetic studies to answer this question.


Of Note

  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2010 & 2011
  • Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Program- Ecology, Evolution, & Organismal Biology Assistantship, University of Georgia, 2009-2010

Major Professor

Chang, Shu-Mei

Shu-Mei Chang

Associate Professor

I am interested in the ecological and evolutionary questions concerning plant reproduction. I am particularly curious about the processes that generate and maintain genetic variation in characters that appear to have obvious effects on reproductive success of plants in natural population. In the past I have combined observation from natural populations, manipulative experiments in the greenhouse and in common gardens, quantitative genetics and molecular evolution approaches in my studies. Though I consider myself an empirical biologist, I am very fond of theoretical studies, and have occasionally done some theoretical investigation for factors difficult to study empirically.

Past research topics include: (1) evolution of selfing in Ipomoea purpurea, (2) molecular evolution of a regulatory gene that influences flower pigmentation in Ipomoea purpurea and (3) characteristics of the spontaneous mutation in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Recently, my research has been focusing on questions relating to the evolution of plant mating systems. There are two main lines of research that are currently ongoing in my lab: (I) Gender specific selection in hermaphroditic plants, and (II) Evolution of separate sexes in plants.

Of Note

  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2010 & 2011
  • Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Program- Ecology, Evolution, & Organismal Biology Assistantship, University of Georgia, 2009-2010

Affiliations