[Ccb_faculty] Fwd: THIS THURSDAY! 7pm Botany Seminar Speaker Dr. Niveditha Ramadoss

Mon Oct 7 15:27:46 PDT 2024

Excellent study about reproduction in endangered chollas!  See below.

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From: The California Botanical Society <membership at calbotsoc.org>
Date: Mon, Oct 7, 2024 at 1:37 PM
Subject: THIS THURSDAY! 7pm Botany Seminar Speaker Dr. Niveditha Ramadoss
To: Amy Litt <amy.litt at ucr.edu>

TONIGHT @7pm Sept 10, 2024 7-8pm PT - “Exploring the Spiky Secrets of
Sexual Systems in Cholla"

Botany Speaker Series

*Dr. Niveditha Ramadoss*

THIS THURSDAY!

*October 10th, 2024*
7-8 pm PT
“Exploring the Spiky Secrets of Sexual Systems in Cholla”

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Flowering plants have a remarkable diversity in sexual systems. These
sexual systems have ecological and evolutionary implications, yet
comprehensive studies are hindered by the scarcity of species-level sexual
system data. In this talk, I will focus on the genus *Cylindropuntia *(family
Cactaceae), which although has a variety of sexual systems, has been poorly
studied. Firstly it is important to accurately determine the sexual system
of *C. wolfii* reported anecdotally as gynodioecious. To achieve this, we
carried out experimental crosses and histological analysis of putative
female and bisexual flowers. We found that *C. wolfii* is functionally
dioecious where the putative bisexual flowers were actually functionally
male. Dioecious species often exhibit sexual dimorphism, which can have
significant ecological effects, particularly in terms of plant-pollinator
interactions. So I wanted to identify whether *C. wolfii* has sexual
dimorphism and if that influences pollinator attraction. For this, we
conducted a comprehensive analysis of quantitative and qualitative traits
in *C. wolfii *flowers and compared them statistically. Our findings
indicate that male flowers of *C. wolfii* are larger and more brightly
colored, leading to a higher attraction of potential pollinators compared
to female flowers. In this study, we utilized fluorescent dyes as pollen
analogues, which are available in various colors. However, previous
research has not investigated whether the color of these dyes influences
pollinator attraction. Therefore, I wanted to assess whether there is any
bias in pollinator attraction due to the color of the dye. We conducted
fluorescent dye assays and discovered that the presence of green dye may
have a potential influence on the attraction of bees. Dioecy is
hypothesized to lead to low genetic diversity and so I wanted to determine
whether the dioecious *Cylindropuntia *species have lower genetic diversity
than hermaphrodites. We found that dioecious *Cylindropuntia *has
comparable diversity to that of hermaphrodites. But, the overall genetic
diversity of all *Cylindropuntia *were found to be low signaling the need
for protection measures. This talk will shed light on sexual
separation in *Cylindropuntia
*and its potential influence on ecological and genetic factors.

* Join us on Thursday! October 10th, 2024 7-8 pm PT*

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*Bio: *

Dr. Niveditha Ramadoss is an international student from Tamil Nadu, India.
Growing up immersed in Indian culture, she was inspired by her mother's use
of plants for food, medicine, cosmetics, and foodware, which fueled her
passion for plants. Dr. Ramadoss began her research journey during her
undergraduate studies, where she worked on synthesizing nanoparticles from
medicinal plants with anti-uropathogenic properties. She completed her
Master's degree at California State University Northridge under Dr. Basu,
focusing on differential gene expression in plants under various
environmental stresses. She recently earned her PhD in Evolutionary Biology
through a joint doctoral program at SDSU and UCR, under the guidance of Dr.
Lluvia Flores-Renteria and co-advised by Dr. Amy Litt. Her doctoral
research centered on the evolutionary ecology of native cholla species,
known for their diverse sexual systems. She is now preparing to start a
postdoctoral position at SDSU with Dr. Lluvia Flores-Renteria, where she
will explore the evolutionary basis of sexual system development in cholla
species. In addition to her academic work, she enjoys fostering kittens for
the Humane Society.

*Upcoming 2024 Botany Speakers: *

14-Nov: Brody Sandel, Santa Clara University

12-Dec: Allyssa Richards, UC Riverside

*Want to give a talk in our botany speaker series? Email us at
membership at calbotsoc.org
<membership at calbotsoc.org;+rlolliff at berkeley.edu?subject=Botany%20Speaker%20Series%20Talk>*

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