Mating patterns and pollinator mobility are critical traits in forest fragmentation genetics

Heredity (Edinb). 2015 Aug;115(2):108-14. doi: 10.1038/hdy.2013.48. Epub 2013 Sep 4.

Abstract

Most woody plants are animal-pollinated, but the global problem of habitat fragmentation is changing the pollination dynamics. Consequently, the genetic diversity and fitness of the progeny of animal-pollinated woody plants sired in fragmented landscapes tend to decline due to shifts in plant-mating patterns (for example, reduced outcrossing rate, pollen diversity). However, the magnitude of this mating-pattern shift should theoretically be a function of pollinator mobility. We first test this hypothesis by exploring the mating patterns of three ecologically divergent eucalypts sampled across a habitat fragmentation gradient in southern Australia. We demonstrate increased selfing and decreased pollen diversity with increased fragmentation for two small-insect-pollinated eucalypts, but no such relationship for the mobile-bird-pollinated eucalypt. In a meta-analysis, we then show that fragmentation generally does increase selfing rates and decrease pollen diversity, and that more mobile pollinators tended to dampen these mating-pattern shifts. Together, our findings support the premise that variation in pollinator form contributes to the diversity of mating-pattern responses to habitat fragmentation.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Birds
  • Eucalyptus / genetics*
  • Forests*
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Genetics, Population*
  • Genotype
  • Inbreeding
  • Insecta
  • Pollination*
  • Population Density
  • Reproduction / genetics
  • South Australia

Associated data

  • Dryad/10.5061/DRYAD.G7J86