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Mating patterns and pollinator mobility are critical traits in forest fragmentation genetics.
- Source :
-
Heredity [Heredity (Edinb)] 2015 Aug; Vol. 115 (2), pp. 108-14. Date of Electronic Publication: 2013 Sep 04. - Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- Most woody plants are animal-pollinated, but the global problem of habitat fragmentation is changing the pollination dynamics. Consequently, the genetic diversity and fitness of the progeny of animal-pollinated woody plants sired in fragmented landscapes tend to decline due to shifts in plant-mating patterns (for example, reduced outcrossing rate, pollen diversity). However, the magnitude of this mating-pattern shift should theoretically be a function of pollinator mobility. We first test this hypothesis by exploring the mating patterns of three ecologically divergent eucalypts sampled across a habitat fragmentation gradient in southern Australia. We demonstrate increased selfing and decreased pollen diversity with increased fragmentation for two small-insect-pollinated eucalypts, but no such relationship for the mobile-bird-pollinated eucalypt. In a meta-analysis, we then show that fragmentation generally does increase selfing rates and decrease pollen diversity, and that more mobile pollinators tended to dampen these mating-pattern shifts. Together, our findings support the premise that variation in pollinator form contributes to the diversity of mating-pattern responses to habitat fragmentation.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1365-2540
- Volume :
- 115
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Heredity
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 24002239
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.2013.48