Coping with potential bi-parental inbreeding: limited pollen and seed dispersal and large genets in the dioecious marine angiosperm Thalassia testudinum.

ABSTRACT: The high prevalence of dioecy in marine angiosperms or seagrasses (>50% of all species) is thought to enforce cross-fertilization. However, seagrasses are clonal plants, and they may still be subject to sibling-mating or bi-parental inbreeding if the genetic neighborhood is smaller than the size of the genets. We tested this by determining the genetic neighborhoods of the dioecious seagrass Thalassia testudinum at two sites (Back-Reef and Mid-Lagoon) in Puerto Morelos Reef Lagoon, Mexico, by measuring dispersal of pollen and seeds in situ, and by fine-scale spatial autocorrelation analysis with eight polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers. Prevalence of inbreeding was verified by estimating pairwise kinship coefficients; and by analysing the genotypes of seedlings grown from seeds i

SUBMITTER: Van Tussenbroek BI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5127610 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature