Abstract Detail



Reproductive Processes

Valverde, Javier [1], Perfectti, Francisco [2], Gómez, José aría [3].

Pollination effectiveness in a generalist plant: adding the genetic component.

Estimating the pollination effectiveness –the contribution of flower visitors to a plant’s reproductive success– is crucial to understand the ecology and evolution of plant–pollinator interactions. The pollination effectiveness of a flower visitor has traditionally been measured as the product of a quantity component defined by the frequency of interaction and a quality component that measures the per-visit effects on plant reproduction. We propose that including information about the diversity and composition of sires after single visits to flowers will provide information on the role of each pollinator to the mating portfolio of plants.
We used the generalist plant Erysimum mediohispanicum as a model species. For most functional groups of flower visitors we measured the quantity component as the per-flower visitation rate. We measured the quality component as the probability of an ovule of producing a viable seed after a single visit to a flower. Finally, for the most effective pollinators we used 10 microsatellite to calculate the genetic component as the diversity of sires among siblings and included it into the calculation of the pollination effectiveness.
We found a significant variation among functional groups in the quantity and quality components, which were shown to be decoupled. Functional groups also differed significantly in the genetic component. Finally, including the genetic component into the calculation of the pollination effectiveness increased the differences between some functional groups and modified the pollination effectiveness landscape.
Our study unveils that in plants with a generalist pollination system, the variability in the quantity and quality components may entail a reduction in the number of pollinators contributing significantly to plant reproduction. On top of this, it is demonstrated that pollinators may also differ in their contribution to the genetic composition of the progeny. Considering genetic information of the progeny produced by a given pollinator adds information about its contribution to plant mating patterns and gives a more comprehensive insight of its effectiveness.


1 - Research Center In Biodiversity And Genetic Resources, Plant Biology, Campus Agrrio De Vairo - Rua Padre Armando Quintas, N 7, Vairo, 13, 4485-661, Portugal
2 - University of Granada, Genetics, Avenida de Fuente Nueva s/n, Granada, 18071, Spain
3 - Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas - CSIC, Ecología Evolutiva y de la Conducta, Carr. Sacramento, s/n, Almería, 04120, Spain

Keywords:
Generalist pollination systems
Diversity of sires
Erysimum mediohispanicum
Pollination effectiveness.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: REP4, Reproductive Processes 4
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Thursday, July 30th, 2020
Time: 4:15 PM
Number: REP4006
Abstract ID:615
Candidate for Awards:None


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