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AOBPreview originally published online on March 4, 2005
Annals of Botany 2005 95(6):1017-1023; doi:10.1093/aob/mci109
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org

Selective Seed Abortion Affects the Performance of the Offspring in Bauhinia ungulata

JORGE I. MENA-ALÍ* and OSCAR J. ROCHA{dagger}

Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, San José, Costa Rica

* For correspondence at: Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University. 208 Mueller Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802, USA. E-mail jim123{at}psu.edu

Received: 11 November 2004    Returned for revision: 12 January 2005    Accepted: 22 January 2005    Published electronically: 4 March 2005

• Background and Aims Under the microgametophytic competition hypothesis, a non-random pattern of seed abortion is expected, in which only the most vigorous seeds reach maturity. In a previous study, it was found that Bauhinia ungulata (Fabaceae) exhibits a pattern of seed abortion dependent on the position of the ovule within the ovary; ovules located in the stylar half of the fruit, close to the point of entry of pollen tubes to the ovary, have a low probability of seed abortion, whereas ovules in the basal half of the fruit are aborted with a high probability.

• Methods A series of experimental fruits was generated, in which ovules from either the stylar (treatments 1 and 2) or the basal (treatments 3 and 4) half of fruits were destroyed, to evaluate whether these patterns of selective seed abortion have an effect on the vigour of the offspring in B. ungulata.

• Key Results Only 53 % of the seed from control fruits germinated. Seed set in fruits from treatments 1 and 2 showed a significantly lower (33–43 %) percentage of germination; the germination of seeds from fruits in treatments 3 and 4 (49–51 %) did not differ from control seeds. In addition, it was found that the differences in vigour of the offspring are not random with respect to the position of the ovule in the pod.

• Conclusions The overall performance of the seeds correlated with their likelihood of maturation. Seeds located at the basal half of the treatment fruits showed lower values of vigour than seeds located on the stylar half. The differences were more marked for early measures of fitness.

Key words: Bauhinia ungulata, Fabaceae, fitness, Guanacaste Conservation Area, microgametophytic competition, offspring vigour, selective seed abortion


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