Seed set variation in wild Clarkia populations: teasing apart the effects of seasonal resource depletion, pollen quality, and pollen quantity.

ABSTRACT: In habitats where resource availability declines during the growing season, selection may favor early-flowering individuals. Under such ephemerally favorable conditions, late-blooming species (and individuals) may be particularly vulnerable to resource limitation of seed production. In California, a region prone to seasonal drought, members of the annual genus Clarkia are among the last to flower in the spring. We compared pollen limitation (PL) of seed set and outcrossing rates between early- and late-flowering individuals in two mixed-mating Clarkia taxa to detect whether flowering time is associated with changes in seed set due to resource depletion, PL, or increased selfing. In 2008-2010, we hand-pollinated one flower on a total of 1855 individual plants either Ear

SUBMITTER: Hove AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5058524 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature