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Mechanisms of male-male interference during dispersal of orchid pollen
Citation
Harder, LD and Richards, SA and Agren, J and Johnson, SD, Mechanisms of male-male interference during dispersal of orchid pollen, The American Naturalist, 197, (2) pp. 250-265. ISSN 0003-0147 (2021) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2021 by The University of Chicago. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BYNC 4.0), (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reuse of the work with attribution.
DOI: doi:10.1086/712378
Abstract
Siring success of flowering plants depends on the fates of male gametophytes, which compete for access to stigmas, stylar resources, and ovules. Although rarely considered, pollen may often compete during dispersal, affecting the processes required for export to stigmas: pollen pickup, transport, and deposition. We quantified dispersal interference by tracking bee-mediated dispersal of stained Anacamptis morio (Orchidaceae) pollen from individual donor flowers and inferred the affected dispersal mechanisms on the basis of the fit of a process-based model. During individual trials, all recipient flowers were either emasculated, precluding interference with donor pollen, or intact, adding potentially interfering pollen to the pollinator. The presence of competing pollinaria on bees reduced pickup of additional pollinaria, doubled the overall proportion of lost donor pollen, and reduced total pollen export by 27%. Interference specifically increased loss of donor pollen between successive flower visits and variation in deposition among trials, and it likely also reduced pollen contact with stigmas and pollen deposition when contact occurred. Thus, by altering pollen removal, transport, and deposition, male-male interference during pollen dispersal can significantly—and perhaps commonly—limit plant-siring success.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | interference competition, male-male interference, orchid, pollen dispersal, pollination, sexual selection |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Evolutionary biology |
| Research Field: | Biological adaptation |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences |
| UTAS Author: | Richards, SA (Dr Shane Richards) |
| ID Code: | 144368 |
| Year Published: | 2021 |
| Deposited By: | Mathematics |
| Deposited On: | 2021-05-18 |
| Last Modified: | 2021-09-17 |
| Downloads: | 17 View Download Statistics |
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