Small populations are mate-poor but pollinator-rich in a rare, self-incompatible plant, Hymenoxys herbacea (Asteraceae)

doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02045.x

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Wiley InterScience

New Phytologist

Volume 174 Issue 4, Pages 915 - 925

Published Online: 16 Mar 2007

Published on behalf of the New Phytologist Trust

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Small populations are mate-poor but pollinator-rich in a rare, self-incompatible plant, Hymenoxys herbacea (Asteraceae)

Lesley G. Campbell ^1,2 and Brian C. Husband ¹

¹ Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada; ² Present address: Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, 318 W 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

Author for correspondence: Lesley G. Campbell Tel: +1 614 292 8433 Fax: +1 614 292 2030 Email: campbell.633@osu.edu

KEYWORDS

clonal • genetic diversity • Hymenoxys herbacea • insect pollinators • mate diversity • pollen limitation • population connectivity • population size

New Phytologist (2007) 174: 915–925

ABSTRACT

•
If pollinators or compatible mates are scarce, plants in small populations may be pollen-limited and consequently produce fewer offspring. However, determining the relative importance of the genetic vs ecological mechanisms limiting successful pollination is challenging.
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We explored the relationships among population size, population connectivity, pollinator visitation, allozyme diversity, mate availability (measured as percent compatible crosses among plants within a population), and pollen limitation in 12 populations (N = 39–885274) of the self-incompatible plant Hymenoxys herbacea in Ontario, Canada.
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Unexpectedly, small populations had more insect flower visitors per capitulum than large populations. Consistent with the effects of genetic drift, both allozyme polymorphism and mate availability decreased with decreasing population size. Pollen limitation was low and significant in only one population and could not be predicted based on knowledge of population size, connectivity, compatible mate availability, or pollinator visitation.
•
Population size had detectable effects on both pollinator activity and mate availability. However, because the effect of population size was complementary on these two potentially limiting mechanisms, this threatened plant was rarely pollen-limited.

Received: 10 December 2006 Accepted: 23 January 2007

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02045.x About DOI