An experimental field study of inbreeding depression in an outcrossing invasive plant.

ABSTRACT: Inbreeding depression is likely to play an important role during biological invasion. But relatively few studies have investigated the fitness of selfed and outcrossed offspring in self-incompatible invasive plants in natural environments in their introduced range. Moreover, the majority of studies on inbreeding depression have investigated self-compatible species with mixed mating, and less is known about the intensity of inbreeding depression in outcrossing self-incompatible species. Here, we address these questions experimentally by comparing selfed and outcrossed progeny of purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) over four growing seasons, including three under field conditions in a freshwater marsh in southern Ontario, Canada, a region where L. salicaria is highly invasiv

SUBMITTER: Balogh CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11390429 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature