Statement of research interests: Christopher F. Sacchi

 

            I am interested, generally, in plant reproductive ecology.  My past research focused on the interactions of herbivores with their host plants, with an interest in learning how herbivores might influence the reproduction of their hosts.  This research included studies of the effect of the shoot gall-forming Tenthredinid sawfly, Euura lasiolepis, on the arroyo willow, Salix lasiolepis (Sacchi, Price, Craig, and Itami 1988).  Later studies focused on the impact of specialist folivorous herbivores, the eggplant flea beetle, Epitrix fuscula, and the horse nettle beetle, Leptinotarsa juncta, on horse nettle, Solanum carolinense (Wise and Sacchi 1996).  I also examined the effect of gall formation by the dogwood club gall in a single year on reproduction by flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, over several years following initial herbivore attack (Sacchi and Connor 1998).  I continue to be interested in plant-herbivore interactions, with an interest in understanding the range of effects herbivores have on the reproduction and growth of their host plants.

 

            In other studies, I’ve examined the causes of seed size variation within plant populations and the influence of this variation on early seedling growth; these studies have focused on seed production in arroyo willow and horse nettle.  I continue to examine seed size variation and seed mass effects on seedling growth in several species of woody and herbaceous plants.

 

            I have also studied the pollination biology of the willow, Salix lasiolepis, to determine the relative contributions of insects and wind to pollen transfer in this willow species (Sacchi and Price 1988).  I have begun studies on nectar quality in several species of plants with zygomorphic flowers and the relationship between floral traits and pollination success.

 

            Demographic studies focused on seedling establishment have included work on arroyo willow (Sacchi and Price 1992) and on the rare AZ cliffrose, Purshia subintegra (Maschinski, Baggs, and Sacchi In Prep).

 

            Finally, I am interested in the contemporary interest in use of ornamental North American native plants in gardens.  Of particular interest are horticulturally significant native species with widespread geographic distributions.  Concern among horticulturists and ecologists about the introduction of individual plants taken from distant geographic localities through the nursery trade and the impact of these introductions on local plant populations of the same species was of particular interest to me.  Plants including cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis, and black eyed susan, Rudbeckia hirta, have been introduced from distant populations to areas where local populations of these species could be found and led to studies of population differentiation in these species (Johnson and Sacchi, In Prep).

 

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