Ruth Cozien

Ruth Cozien is interested in why and how the amazing variation among flowers arises, and in particular the role of adaptation to different pollinators in driving variation. Her PhD research focuses on variation in floral colour, morphology and nectar properties among populations of Hesperantha coccinea, a Drakensberg iris. She's investigating the roles of population genetics, riverscape geneflow, mating system, inbreeding depression and siring success in mediating divergence. She's also interested in functional differences among pollinators, as well as pollinator and plant distributions and community composition as proximate and ultimate drivers of pollinator-mediated divergence.