Ecological implications of reduced pollen deposition in alpine plants: a case study using a dominant cushion plant species.

ABSTRACT: The reproductive assurance hypothesis states that self-incompatible female plants must produce twice the number of seeds relative to their self-compatible hermaphroditic counterparts to persist in gynodioecious populations. This is a viable life-history strategy, provided that pollination rates are sufficiently high. However, reduced pollination rates in alpine plants are likely due to climate induced plant-pollinator mismatches and general declines in pollinators. Using a gynodioecious population of the dominant plant Silene acaulis (Caryophyllaceae), we tested the reproductive assurance hypothesis and also the stress gradient hypothesis with a series of pollinator exclusion trials and extensive measurements of subsequent reproductive output (gender ratio, plant size, percent fruit-set, f

SUBMITTER: Reid A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4103497 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature