Evolutionary consequences of ecological factors: pollinator reliability predicts mating‐system traits of a perennial plant
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2016 papers
Abstract
The reproductive-assurance hypothesis predicts that mating-system traits will evolve towards increased autonomous self-pollination in plant populations experiencing unreliable pollinator service. We tested this long-standing hypothesis by assessing geographic covariation among pollinator reliability, outcrossing rates, heterozygosity and relevant floral traits across populations of Dalechampia scandens in Costa Rica. Mean outcrossing rates ranged from 0.16 to 0.49 across four populations, and covaried with the average rates of pollen arrival on stigmas, a measure of pollinator reliability. Across populations, genetically based differences in herkogamy (anther-stigma distance) were associated with variation in stigmatic pollen loads, outcrossing rates and heterozygosity. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that, when pollinators are unreliable, floral traits promoting autonomous selfing evolve as a mechanism of reproductive assurance. Extensive covariation between floral traits and mating system among closely related populations further suggests that floral traits influencing mating systems track variation in adaptive optima generated by variation in pollinator reliability.
Related Papers
- → THE EVOLUTION OF SELF‐FERTILIZATION AND INBREEDING DEPRESSION IN PLANTS. II. EMPIRICAL OBSERVATIONS(1985)630 cited
- → The cost of selfing inEncyclia cochleata (Orchidaceae)(1999)34 cited
- → Different levels of inbreeding depression between outcrossing and selfing <sub>Serapias</sub> species(2009)34 cited
- → Relatively weak inbreeding depression in selfing but also in outcrossing populations of North American Arabidopsis lyrata(2017)17 cited