Floral display size,conspecific density and florivory affect fruit set in natural populations of Phlox hirsuta,an endangered species

Background and Aims

Natural variation in fruit and seed set may be explained by factors that affect the composition of pollen grains on stigmas. Self-incompatible species require compatible outcross pollen grains to produce seeds. The siring success of outcross pollen grains, however, can be hindered if self (or other incompatible) pollen grains co-occur on stigmas. This study identifies factors that determine fruit set in Phlox hirsuta, a self-sterile endangered species that is prone to self-pollination, and its associated fitness costs.

Methods

Multiple linear regressions were used to identify factors that explain variation in percentage fruit set within three of the five known populations of this endangered species. Florivorous beetle density, petal colour, floral display size, local conspecific density and pre-dispersal seed predation were quantified and their effects on the ability of flowers to produce fruits were assessed.

Key Results

In all three populations, percentage fruit set decreased as florivorous beetle density increased and as floral display size increased. The effect of floral display size on fruit set, however, often depended on the density of nearby conspecific plants. High local conspecific densities offset – even reversed – the negative effects of floral display size on percentage fruit set. Seed predation by mammals decreased fruit set in one population.

Conclusions

The results indicate that seed production in P. hirsuta can be maximized by selectively augmenting populations in areas containing isolated large plants, by reducing the population sizes of florivorous beetles and by excluding mammals that consume unripe fruits.     

Pollination biology of the sclerophyllous shrub Pultenaea villosa Willd. (Fabaceae) in southeast Queensland, Australia

The pollination biology of the common shrub Pultenaea villosa Willd. was examined in a subtropical dry sclerophyll forest in eastern Australia. We determined floral phenology and morphology, the timing of stigma receptivity and anther dehiscence, nectar availability, the plant breeding system, and flower visitors. The shrub's flowers are typical zygomorphic pea flowers with hidden floral rewards and reproductive structures. These flowers require special manipulation for insect access. A range of insects visited the flowers, although bees are predicted to be the principle pollinators based on their frequency on the flowers and their exclusive ability to operate the wing and keel petals to access the reproductive structures. Nectar and pollen are offered as rewards and were actively collected by bees. Nectar is offered to visitors in minute amounts at the base of the corolla. In Toohey Forest, P. villosa flowers in spring and is the most abundant floral resource in the understory of the forest at this time. The breeding system experiment revealed that P. villosa requires outcrossing for high levels of seed set and that the overlap of stigma receptivity and pollen dehiscence within the flower suggests the potential for self-incompatibility.     

Does cholinesterase participate in the intercellular interactions in pollen-pistil system?

Hydrolysis of acetylthiocholine and butyrylthiocholine has been observed in aqueous extracts from petunia pollen and pistils. The reproductive organs of self-compatible clone showed a higher rate of choline ester hydrolysis than those of self-incompatible clone. The highest rate of acetylthiocholine hydrolysis blocked by the cholinesterase inhibitors (physostigmine and neostigmine) was characteristic for the pollen of self-compatible clone. The incomplete (25 - 40 %) inhibition of hydrolysis in pistil extracts of self-compatible clone suggests the presence of unspecific esterases. The eight-fold lower hydrolysis was observed in the pistils of self-incompatible clone as compared to the pistils of compatible clone; neostigmine completely blocked this low hydrolytic activity. The treatment of flower buds with physostigmine and neostigmine (10-5 - 10-3 M) decreased the seed production by 10 - 20 % in compatible clone. When the surfaces of pistil stigmae were treated with physostigmine and neostigmine (10-5 - 10-3 M) before pollination, the seed formation was inhibited by 95 % after both self- and cross-pollination. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

宁夏枸杞传粉生态学初步研究

田间观察检测了宁夏枸杞(Lycium barbarum L.)9个品系的开花物候、开花动态、花粉活力、柱头可授性及其繁育系统,并对花粉萌发、花粉管生长以及访花者的种类和访花行为进行了初步研究.结果表明,宁夏枸杞整个居群有长达5个月的花期,单花的花期仅为3～4 d,花粉活力可保持15 d左右,柱头可授性在72 h左右,雌雄生殖单位在持续时间上有较长的相遇期;花粉数量与胚珠比(P/O)为4 000左右,杂交指数(OCI)介于3或4,繁育系统为异交型,需要传粉者;荧光显微观察表明,参试的3个品系的花粉均能在柱头上萌发,2个有自交不亲和现象,其位置发生在花柱的上半部分和子房内.访花昆虫有17种,分属双翅目、膜翅目和鳞翅目,花的结构和开花式样适合以意大利蜜蜂和食蚜蝇为主的多种昆虫传粉.     

梨花柱S-RNase对花粉管超微结构的影响

采用光学显微镜和透射电子显微镜研究了离体条件下不同品种梨花柱S—RNase对异花(亲和)及自花(不亲和)花粉萌发和花粉管生长及其超微结构的影响。结果表明,花柱S—RNase抑制不亲和花粉的萌发和花粉管的生长,对亲和花粉的萌发和花粉管的生长基本没有影响。花粉生长初期,亲和及不亲和花粉管超微结构相似;但培养24h以后,亲和花粉管中充满细胞质和细胞器,而不亲和花粉管中只有靠近花粉管前端有少量细胞质,细胞壁增厚,细胞壁与细胞质之间有一层胼胝质和电子透明区间隔。     

Genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation in an agricultural landscape on the common Primula veris, and comparison with its rare congener, P. vulgaris

In Flanders (northern Belgium), the common (butlocally rare) P. veris and its rarerelative Primula vulgaris, twoself-incompatible perennials, mainly occur infragmented habitats of the intensively usedagricultural landscape. We investigated geneticvariation and structure for respectively 30 and27 allozyme loci in 24 and 41 populations ofP. veris and P. vulgaris, inrelation to species (local) abundance and topopulation size and plant density, and comparedpopulations of linear landscape elements(verges) with non verge populations. Therare P. vulgaris was geneticallydepauperate compared to the commoner P.veris. Both species showed a geographicalstructure of genetic variation and isolation bydistance. The scattered populations of P.veris from the Westhoek region (polderhabitats) were of smaller size, geneticallydepauperate and showed higher interpopulationdivergence compared to the Voeren region, wherepopulations are densely distributed andhabitats less fragmented. Verge and non vergepopulations showed similar populations sizesand levels of genetic variation. For bothspecies, small populations showed a loss ofgenetic variation, but still maintained highlevels of observed heterozygosity.Within-population plant density negativelyaffected allelic richness in P. veris.Ours results indicate that common species canalso be negatively affected by habitatfragmentation (perhaps even more so than rarespecies) and that verge populations can have ahigh potential conservation value. Both vergeand non-verge populations should be included inconservation efforts.     

结球甘蓝自交不亲和系组织快繁体系研究

对结球甘蓝自交不亲和系进行快繁,以探讨不同外植体、激素配比及浓度、定植方式等因素对结球甘蓝不定芽、不定根发生能力等的影响.结果表明:当激素浓度组合为5 mg/L 6-BA+0.25 mg/L NAA时不定芽分化率最高,腋芽和下胚轴分别为87.5%和85%;当组合为2 mg/L 6-BA+0.01 mg/L NAA和3 mg/L 6-BA+0.1 mg/L NAA时最易诱导产生不定芽,增殖系数达到4以上;适合生根培养基为2/3 MS+0.1 mg/L IBA+0.1 mg/L NAA,平均每株生根数是7～8条,生根率80.3%.移栽到穴盘的试管苗成活率高达100%,生长健壮;直接栽在大田的成活率为84.7%,长势较差.起始培养时腋芽比种子增殖速度快,后期增殖及生长二者无显著差异.     

Evolution of hierarchical cytoplasmic inheritance in the plasmodial slime mold Physarum polycephalum

A striking linear dominance relationship for uniparental mitochondrial transmission is known between many mating types of plasmodial slime mold Physarum polycephalum. We herein examine how such hierarchical cytoplasmic inheritance evolves in isogamous organisms with many self-incompatible mating types. We assume that a nuclear locus determines the mating type of gametes and that another nuclear locus controls the digestion of mitochondria DNAs (mtDNAs) of the recipient gamete after fusion. We then examine the coupled genetic dynamics for the evolution of self-incompatible mating types and biased mitochondrial transmission between them. In Physarum, a multiallelic nuclear locus matA controls both the mating type of the gametes and the selective elimination of the mtDNA in the zygotes. We theoretically examine two potential mechanisms that might be responsible for the preferential digestion of mitochondria in the zygote. In the first model, the preferential digestion of mitochondria is assumed to be the outcome of differential expression levels of a suppressor gene carried by each gamete (suppression-power model). In the second model (site-specific nuclease model), the digestion of mtDNAs is assumed to be due to their cleavage by a site-specific nuclease that cuts the mtDNA at unmethylated recognition sites. Also assumed is that the mtDNAs are methylated at the same recognition site prior to the fusion, thereby being protected against the nuclease of the same gamete, and that the suppressor alleles convey information for the recognition sequences of nuclease and methylase. In both models, we found that a linear dominance hierarchy evolves as a consequence of the buildup of a strong linkage disequilibrium between the mating-type locus and the suppressor locus, though it fails to evolve if the recombination rate between the two loci is larger than a threshold. This threshold recombination rate depends on the number of mating types and the degree of fitness reduction in the heteroplasmic zygotes. If the recombination rate is above the threshold, suppressor alleles are equally distributed in each mating type at evolutionary equilibrium. Based on the theoretical results of the site-specific nuclease model, we propose that a nested subsequence structure in the recognition sequence should underlie the linear dominance hierarchy of mitochondrial transmission.