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Abstract Detail



Pollination Biology

Karron, Jeffrey [1], Mitchell, Randall [2].

Effects of floral display size on male and female reproductive success in monkeyflower.

The number of flowers blooming simultaneously on a plant may have important consequences for male and female reproductive success. Plants with many open flowers often attract more pollinator visits, increasing outcross pollen receipt. However, pollinators frequently visit several flowers in sequence on large displays, potentially increasing self-pollination and reducing pollen export per flower. To more fully understand how floral display influences fitness, we manipulated display phenotypes and then used paternity analysis to quantify siring success and selfing rates. We established four replicate (cloned) arrays of square-stem monkeyflower,Mimulus ringens. Each array consisted of genets with unique marker genotypes, facilitating unambiguous paternity assignment. We trimmed floral displays in each array so that there were equal numbers of plants with two, four, eight and 16 flowers. When fruits ripened, we counted the number of seeds per fruit and assigned paternity to 1935 progeny. Siring success per flower declined sharply with increasing display size, while seed number per flower did not vary with display. The selfing rate increased for large floral displays, but siring losses due to geitonogamous pollen discounting were much greater than siring gains through increased selfing. Although total fitness increased with floral display, the marginal return on each additional flower declined steadily as display size increased. Therefore a monkeyflower plant could maximize fitness by producing small displays over a long flowering period, rather than large displays over a brief flowering period.

Broader Impacts:


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1 - University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Department of Biological Sciences, PO BOX 413, MILWAUKEE, WI, 53201, USA
2 - UNIVERSITY OF AKRON, Department of Biology, Department Of Biology, AKRON, OH, 44325-3908, USA

Keywords:
pollination
mating system
paternity
siring success
functional gender
pollen discounting
Mimulus
selfing rate.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: 45
Location: Melrose/Riverside Hilton
Date: Wednesday, July 31st, 2013
Time: 2:45 PM
Number: 45006
Abstract ID:91
Candidate for Awards:None


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