Does stronger pollen competition improve offspring fitness when pollen load does not vary?

Pélabon, Christophe; Hennet, Lauriane; Bolstad, Geir H.; Albertsen, Elena; Opedal, Øystein H.; Ekrem, Runa K.; Armbruster, W. Scott

doi:10.3732/ajb.1500126

Cited by 17 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…While Armbruster and Rogers () observed an increase in seed mass with increasing intensity of competition among self‐pollen, Opedal, Armbruster, and Pélabon () found no effect of increased competition intensity among either self‐ or cross‐pollen on offspring quantity or quality. The latter results were confirmed by Pélabon et al () who found no effect of variation in the dispersion of pollen on the stigmatic surface on seed mass and seedling performance. However, in contrast to Armbruster and Rogers (), Opedal et al () and Pélabon et al () did not control for the distance the pollen tubes grew.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

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Quantitative and qualitative consequences of reduced pollen loads in a mixed‐mating plant

Hildesheim

Opedal

Armbruster

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Greater pollination intensity can enhance maternal plant fitness by increasing seed set and seed quality as a result of more intense pollen competition or enhanced genetic sampling. We tested experimentally these effects by varying the pollen load from a single pollen donor on stigmas of female flowers of Dalechampia scandens (Euphorbiaceae) and measuring the effects on seed number and seed mass. Seed set increased rapidly with pollen number at low to moderate pollen loads, and a maximum set of three seeds occurred with a mean pollen load of 19 pollen grains. We did not detect a trade‐off between the number of seeds and seed mass within a fruit. Seed mass increased with increasing pollen load, supporting the hypothesis of enhanced seed quality via increased pollen‐competition intensity or genetic sampling. These results suggest that maternal fitness increases with larger pollen loads, even when the fertilization success is already high. Our results further highlight the importance of high rates of pollen arrival onto stigmas, as mediated by reliable pollinators. Comparing the pollen‐to‐seed response curve obtained in this experiment with those observed in natural populations suggests that pollen limitation may be more severe in natural populations than predicted from greenhouse studies. These results also indicate that declines in pollinator abundance may decrease plant fitness through lowered seed quality before an effect on seed set is detected.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…The latter results were confirmed by Pélabon et al () who found no effect of variation in the dispersion of pollen on the stigmatic surface on seed mass and seedling performance. However, in contrast to Armbruster and Rogers (), Opedal et al () and Pélabon et al () did not control for the distance the pollen tubes grew.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Quantitative and qualitative consequences of reduced pollen loads in a mixed‐mating plant

Hildesheim

Opedal

Armbruster

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Such patterns are common for life‐history traits (Houle, ), but it is not entirely clear how this affects their evolutionary dynamics. Low additive genetic variance in seed size has been commonly reported (e.g., Schwaegerle & Levin, ; Pélabon, Albertsen, Falahati‐Anbaran, Wright, & Armbruster, ; Pélabon et al, ) and may constrain the evolution of germination behavior mediated by seed size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rainfall seasonality predicts the germination behavior of a tropical dry‐forest vine

Martins

Opedal

Armbruster

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Seed dormancy is considered to be an adaptive strategy in seasonal and/or unpredictable environments because it prevents germination during climatically favorable periods that are too short for seedling establishment. Tropical dry forests are seasonal environments where seed dormancy may play an important role in plant resilience and resistance to changing precipitation patterns. We studied the germination behavior of seeds from six populations of the Neotropical vine Dalechampia scandens (Euphorbiaceae) originating from environments of contrasting rainfall seasonality. Seeds produced by second greenhouse‐generation plants were measured and exposed to a favorable wet environment at different time intervals after capsule dehiscence and seed dispersal. We recorded the success and the timing of germination. All populations produced at least some dormant seeds, but seeds of populations originating from more seasonal environments required longer periods of after‐ripening before germinating. Within populations, larger seeds tended to require longer after‐ripening periods than did smaller seeds. These results indicate among‐population genetic differences in germination behavior and suggest that these populations are adapted to local environmental conditions. They also suggest that seed size may influence germination timing within populations. Ongoing changes in seasonality patterns in tropical dry forests may impose strong selection on these traits.

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“…It would also be of great interest to evaluate mate choice in fruits sired by multiple pollen donors (cf. Pélabon et al ) under varying resource conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of soil resources on expression of a sexual conflict over timing of stigma receptivity in a mixed‐mating plant

Lankinen

Hydbom

2016

Oikos

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While environmental factors strongly influence plant growth and reproduction, less is known about environmental effects on sexual selection and sexual conflict. In this study on mixed‐mating Collinsia heterophylla we investigated whether soil resource environment affected traits associated with sexual conflict. In C. heterophylla a sexual conflict over timing of stigma receptivity occurs. Early stigma receptivity benefits pollen parents by securing paternity while late stigma receptivity benefits female fitness in terms of increased seed production. We performed hand‐pollinations combining recipients and donors grown either in high or low resource environments and asked whether these treatments influenced sexual conflict traits – recipient‐ and donor‐based influence on timing of stigma receptivity – and conflict costs related to reduced early seed production. We also asked whether resource environment affected eight traits related to general fitness and mating system. Sexual conflict‐associated traits – timing of stigma receptivity and seed production – were generally unaffected by resource environment. While no universal effect of resources was detected, we did observe donor‐specific responses to environment, suggesting that environment can nonetheless contribute to variation in timing of stigma receptivity. Recipients grown under low resources showed pronounced differences among donors for number of seeds per capsule, indicating that recipients favour some donors over others under resource‐low conditions. Moreover, high resources increased number of flowers but reduced pollen germination rate, while other traits were unaffected, indicating variation in the response to resource environment for fitness‐ and mating system‐traits. Our results suggest that even though soil resource environment had a low impact on the sexual conflict traits and related costs in C. heterophylla, it generated variability in pollen donor‐influence on this trait and in recipient sorting among donors. Thus, it is possible that both sexual conflict and sexual selection is affected by environmental factors not only in animals but also in plants.

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Does stronger pollen competition improve offspring fitness when pollen load does not vary?

Cited by 17 publications

References 62 publications

Quantitative and qualitative consequences of reduced pollen loads in a mixed‐mating plant

Quantitative and qualitative consequences of reduced pollen loads in a mixed‐mating plant

Rainfall seasonality predicts the germination behavior of a tropical dry‐forest vine

Effects of soil resources on expression of a sexual conflict over timing of stigma receptivity in a mixed‐mating plant

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