Florian Schiestl

DAVIS--Associate professor Florian Schiestl of the University of Zürich, Switzerland, will speak on "Ecology and Evolution of Floral Signals in Plants" at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar from 12:10 to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27 in 230 Wellman.
Schiestl researches the chemical and evolutionary ecology of plant-pollinator interactions. "Most of his work focuses on floral scent and insect attraction," said host Rachel Vannette, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

 

Of his research interests, he says on his website:

 

"My research deals with ecological and evolutionary questions in the framework of plant – pollinator interactions. The plant organ that mediates these interactions is the flower; flowers are themselves subject to pollinator-driven evolution, but also impact on species-isolation, by specifically attracting certain types of pollinators. In my group, we investigate mechanisms and consequences of floral evolution, by applying state-of-the art analytical methods such as gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, electrophysiology, spectrophotometry, as well as modern sequencing technologies and bioinformatics, and last but not least behavioural experiments with pollinator insects."

 

His major interests center on: