Skip Navigation


AOBPreview originally published online on March 4, 2008
Annals of Botany 2008 101(7):1017-1026; doi:10.1093/aob/mcn030
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
101/7/1017    most recent
mcn030v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in Ann Bot
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gleiser, G.
Right arrow Articles by Verdú, M.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gleiser, G.
Right arrow Articles by Verdú, M.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Gleiser, G.
Right arrow Articles by Verdú, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Siring Success and Paternal Effects in Heterodichogamous Acer opalus

Gabriela Gleiser1,*, José Gabriel Segarra-Moragues1, John Richard Pannell2 and Miguel Verdú1

1 Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación (CSIC-UV-GV), Camí de la Marjal s/n, Apartado Oficial, 46470 Albal (Valencia), Spain
2 Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK

* For correspondence. E-mail gabriela.gleiser{at}uv.es

Received: 13 November 2007    Returned for revision: 3 January 2008    Accepted: 6 February 2008    Published electronically: 4 March 2008

Background and Aims: Heterodichogamy (a dimorphic breeding system comprising protandrous and protogynous individuals) is a potential starting point in the evolution of dioecy from hermaphroditism. In the genus Acer, previous work suggests that dioecy evolved from heterodichogamy through an initial spread of unisexual males. Here, the question is asked as to whether the different morphs in Acer opalus, a species in which males co-exist with heterodichogamous hermaphrodites, differ in various components of male in fitness.

Methods: Several components of male fertility were analysed. Pollination rates in the male phase were recorded across one flowering period. Pollen viability was compared among morphs through hand pollinations both with pollen from a single sexual morph and also simulating a situation of pollen competition; in the latter experiment, paternity was assessed with microsatellite markers. It was also determined whether effects of genetic relatedness between pollen donors and recipients could influence the siring success. Finally, paternal effects occurring beyond the fertilization process were tested for by measuring the height reached by seedlings with different sires over three consecutive growing seasons.

Key Results: The males and protandrous morphs had higher pollination rates than the protogynous morph, and the seedlings they sired grew taller. No differences in male fertility were found between males and protandrous individuals. Departures from random mating due to effects of genetic relatedness among sires and pollen recipients were also ruled out.

Conclusions: Males and protandrous individuals are probably better sires than protogynous individuals, as shown by the higher pollination rates and the differential growth of the seedlings sired by these morphs. In contrast, the fertility of males was not higher than the male fertility of the protandrous morph. While the appearance of males in sexually specialized heterodichogamous populations is possible, even in the absence of a fitness advantage, it is not clear that males can be maintained at an evolutionary equilibrium with two classes of heterodichogamous hermaphrodites.

Key words: Acer opalus, heterodichogamy, male fertility, microsatellites, paternal effects, pollen competition, pollination rates, genetic relatedness


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?

Related articles in Ann Bot:

ContentSnapshots

Ann Bot 2008 101: NP. [Extract] [Full Text]  





Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.