Pollen competition as a reproductive isolating mechanism between two sympatric Hibiscus species

Differences in pollen tube growth rates (certation) between heterospecific (foreign) and conspecific pollen may strongly influence whether hybrid offspring are produced after mixed pollen loads are delivered to a stigma. For both members of a sympatric species pair, Hibiscus moscheutos and H. laevis, pollination by pure loads of foreign pollen resulted in fruit set that was not significantly different from conspecific pollination, indicating that pure loads of foreign pollen could readily result in hybrid offspring. However, the number of seeds per fruit from pure foreign pollinations was significantly less than that of pure conspecific pollination. Simultaneous mixed pollination resulted in a proportion of hybrid seeds (detected by an electrophoretic marker enzyme) that was significantly lower than expected based upon the capacity of foreign pollen to effect fertilization when applied in pure pollinations. After these 50/50% pollen mixtures were applied to stigmas, 8.0 and 7.4% hybrids were produced when H. moscheutos and H. laevis were the ovule parents, respectively. For these Hibiscus species, pollen competition appears to function as a barrier to hybridization that is of moderate intensity compared with similar barriers occurring between other recently studied sympatric species pairs.