Research Area

Plant evolutionary biology and plant- pathogen interactions.

Description of Research

Evolution of plant breeding systems and plant pathogen interactions.

1) The evolution of dioecy and andromonoecy in the genus Thalictrum (meadow rue) using a molecular phylogenetic approach combined with population biology (in collaboration with Dr. Aaron Liston). Sequencing of nuclear and chloroplast loci. Dioecious plants have both male and female individuals in a population; andromonoecious plants have both male and hermaphroditic flowers on an individual.

2) The role of pollinators in the maintenance of mixed mating systems (where both selfing and outcrossing occurs in a population), using the genus Aquilegia (columbines) as a study system. Pollination biology, sex allocation, and selfing rate estimates using allozymes.

3) The role of pathogens in maintaining genetic diversity in plant populations.

Research Group

Graduate Students

Heather Sweet

Courses

Oregon State University
BOT 505 Pollination ecology
BOT 505 Evolutionary ecology: the evolution of plant mating systems
BOT 505 Pathogens and ecology
BOT 505 Sex allocation in plants
BOT 341 Plant Ecology
BOT 489/589 Analysis of Environmental Issues

      University of Oregon
BI 264 Organisms and their environment

Related publications

Brunet, J. 1992 Sex allocation in hermaphroditic plants. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 7:79-84

Brunet, J. and D. Charlesworth. 1995. Floral sex allocation in sequentially blooming plants. Evolution 49:70-79

Brunet, J. 1996. Male reproductive success and variation in fruit and seed set in Aquilegia caerulea (Ranunculaceae). Ecology 77:2458-2471

Brunet, J. and C.C. Eckert. 1998. Effects of floral morphology and display on outcrossing rate in blue columbine, Aquilegia caerulea (Ranunculaceae). Functional Ecology 12: 596-606.

Brunet, J. and C.C. Mundt 2000. Effects of competition on resistance gene polymorphism in 
a plant/pathogen system. Heredity 85: 393-400.

Brunet, J. and C.C. Mundt. 2000. The influence of pathogens and competition on genotype fitness. Canadian Journal of Botany 78: 1-9.

Brunet, J. and C.C. Mundt. 2000. Disease, frequency-dependent selection and genetic polymorphisms: experiments with stripe rust and wheat. Evolution 54: 197-206.

Rigney, L., J. D. Thomson, M. Cruzan, and J. Brunet. 1993. Differential success of pollen donors in a self-compatible lily. Evolution 47:915-924.

Thomson J.D., and J. Brunet. 1990. Hypotheses for the evolution of dioecy in seed plants. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 5:11-16.

Brunet, J., A. Liston, J.S. Miller and D.L. Venable. 2001. Polyploidy and gender dimorphism. Science 291: 1441.