I am currently planning my Ph.D. research project.  I hope to tell the story of two species of Begonia (pictures coming soon!) that occur together on the forest floor in a Costa Rican premontane wet forest.  The sex lives of begonias are interesting because they have separate female and male flowers on the same plant, and only the males offer a reward--the females are 'pollinated by deceit.'  Some questions I might explore are:

• What influences the sex ratio of the two species of begonias?  Possibilities include plant size, age, environment, flower longevity, optimal deception of pollinators (to get them to stay? to get them to leave?), and competition for pollination.

• What influences the pollination success of the two species of Begonias?  Do they both share the same insect pollinators, or do they specialize on different ones?  Do the plants compete for pollinators or cooperate to attract them?

• There seem to be differences in floral traits (like color, size and number of petals) in the populations of each species.  Do these traits vary from patch to patch in the forest?  Are these differences genetic?  How do they affect pollination?

• How well do the plants disperse in the forest through pollen and seeds?  How do other plants that bloom at the same time (an exotic Impatiens and a giant Begonia) affect the pollen movement of the two begonias?