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Quentin C.B. Cronk
Academic History
- Joined University of British Columbia as Professor of Plant Science and Director, UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research
- Reader in Vascular Plant Systematics at Edinburgh University and RBGE 1999-2002
- Faculty member, Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology (ICMB) Edinburgh University and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 1995-2002
- Curator of the Oxford University Herbaria, 1994-95
- Departmental Lecturer in Botany, University of Oxford, 1992-95
- Fellow and Tutor for Admissions, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 1989-92
- Lecturer in Botany, Trinity College, Dublin, 1988-89
- Research Fellow, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 1985-88
- PhD Department of Botany, University of Cambridge, 1985
Quentin Cronk Laboratory
Quentin Cronk's Recent Papers (as indexed by PubMed)
Please note: Additional publications not indexed by PubMed are displayed here (please scroll down)
Bird-pollinated flowers in an evolutionary and molecular context.
J Exp Bot. 2008;59(4):715-27
Authors: Cronk Q, Ojeda I
Evolutionary shifts to bird pollination (ornithophily) have occurred independently in many lineages of flowering plants. This shift affects many floral features, particularly those responsible for the attraction of birds, deterrence of illegitimate flower visitors (particularly bees), protection from vigorous foraging by birds, and accurate placement of pollen on bird's bodies. Red coloration appears to play a major role in both bee-deterrence and bird-attraction. Other mechanisms of bird-attraction include the production of abundant dilute nectar and the provision of secondary perches (for non-hovering birds). As a result of selection for similar phenotypic traits in unrelated bird-pollinated species, a floral syndrome of ornithophily can be recognized, and this review surveys the component floral traits. The strong convergent evolution evident in bird-pollinated flowers raises a question about the nature of the genetic mechanisms underlying such transitions and whether the same gene systems are involved in most cases. As yet there is too little information to answer this question. However, some promising model systems have been developed that include closely related bee and bird-pollinated flowers, such as Ipomoea, Mimulus, and Lotus. Recent studies of floral developmental genetics have identified numerous genes important in the development of the floral phenotype, which are also potential candidates for involvement in shifts between bee-pollination and bird pollination. As more whole-genome information becomes available, progress should be rapid.
PMID: 18326865 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Link to abstract on PubMed: Bird-pollinated flowers in an evolutionary and molecular context.
Books
- Quentin Cronk, Richard Bateman and Julie A Hawkins (Eds)(2002)
Developmental Genetics and Plant Evolution
564 pages, 100 b\w illus., 19 tabs. Taylor and Francis, UK; Garland, USA. - Quentin Cronk (2000)
The Endemic Flora of St Helena.
119 pages, 25 col. plates, b/w photos. Anthony Nelson, UK. - Quentin CB Cronk and Janice L Fuller (2001)
Plant Invaders: The Threat to Natural Ecosystems.
241 pages, b/w photos, illus., tabs, maps. Earthscan, UK. (2nd edition, 1st edition 1995).
