Constance is a junior Environmental Science major in the College of Liberal Arts. She is a two-year member of the Willamette cross-country team, currently serves as editor-in-chief of the Sustainability Council biweekly newsletter, and is also a member of the Sustainability Council's Energy Conservation Task Force. After college, she plans to pursue a career in research, most likely in wetlands ecology.

Interspecific hybridization greatly affects plant speciation and potentially contributes to species diversity and evolution. Two native species, Camassia quamash and C. leichtlinii, occur in both allopatric and sympatric populations, but remain distinct morphologically. Although allozyme analyses suggest hybrids occur, the presence of reproductive barriers has been little studied. We assessed various prezygotic reproductive barriers to hybridization in these species, investigating fruit maturation, pollen tube growth, and disparities in habitat. We also measured differences in temperature, humidity, light levels, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) using BOBO sensors, and determined soil moisture levels by collecting and drying soil samples. Environmental conditions for these two species differed significantly, suggesting that habitat is a potentially important isolating barrier. Experimental crosses between C. quamash and C. leichtliniionly produced seed with C. leichtlinii as the maternal parent; thus we can infer that other barriers, such as success of pollen tube growth, obstruct hybridization. Pollen tubes scored using epifluorescence microscopy indicated greater success of pollen tube growth for conspecific crosses as compared to interspecific crosses. Our results suggest that prezygotic isolating barriers affect hybridization, thus reinforcing speciation, in Camassia.