Winer Daniel Reyes Corral

McGill University
Ph.D. candidate
Supervisor: Andrew Hendry
Jaime Chaves, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Start: 2017-09-01
End: 2023-11-30
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Project

Tribulus cistoides as an eco-evolutionary nexus in Galápagos
Seed predation interactions are used to study the coevolution and distribution of plant communities and predators. In Galapagos, the ground finches are a well-studied system that shows how plants select shapes the evolution of these birds. However, there are few studies focusing on the reverse interaction of how finches are driving the evolution of plant traits. I explore the effects of finches on a species of plant, Tribulus cistoides. I use Tribulus as a new nexus that puts in context the effects of predation on plants. I look at their evolutionary history in Galapagos. I use field experiments to determine what traits of this plant are under selection, and use experimental plots to infer if those differences observed in the plant traits have different ecological effects at the population-level and with other communities.