Abstract Detail

Reproductive Processes

Patel, Cheril [1], Arceo-Gomez, Gerardo [1], Kaczorowski, Rainee [2], Ashman, Tia-Lynn [2].

Understanding Variation in The Effects of Heterospecific Pollen Receipt: The Effect of Donor and Recipient Traits.

Co-flowering plants typically share pollinators which can result in pollen transfer among different species, i.e., heterospecific pollen transfer (HPT). It has been shown that HPT can have negative effects on plant reproductive success but the variation in the magnitude of the effect is large. Negative effects can range from 80% to 0% reduction in seed production. However, to date, the causes underlying the variability of these effects are unknown. It has been proposed that the magnitude of HP effects may be determined by pollen recipient or pollen donor characteristics or by the specific combination of donor and recipient characteristics. For instance, the magnitude of the effect has been predicted to increase with decreasing co-flowering, increasing phylogenetic distance, or with decreasing difference between pollen and stigma size between donors and recipients. However, these predictions have not been empirically tested. We tested these predictions by conducting hand pollinations across six recipient species and four pollen donor species. Hand-pollinations were conducted with a mix of conspecific and heterospecific pollen and a control (conspecific pollen only). We conducted hand-pollinations on a minimum of 10 plants per recipient species (584 total pollinations). We recorded seed set, conspecific and heterospecific pollen on stigmas for each treatment. We evaluated whether the magnitude of the HP effect can be explained by the recipient species, the donor species, or is mediated by the interaction between donor and recipient. We observed high variability in the magnitude of HPT. Our preliminary results suggest that the magnitude of this effect is mediated by the specific combination of pollen donor and recipient traits. Preliminary results also suggest that the effect increases with an increase in co-flowering and decreases with increasing difference between pollen (donor) and stigma (recipient) size. This study will be the first to test, in an experimental setting, the underlying causes mediating variation in HP receipt.

1 - East Tennessee State University, Biological Sciences, 1276 Gilbreath Dr, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
2 - University of Pittsburgh, Department of Biological Sciences, 4249 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

Keywords:
Heterospecific pollen deposition
pollination
plant reproduction.

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Reproductive Processes
Location: Grand Ballroom - Exhibit Hall/Mayo Civic Center
Date: Monday, July 23rd, 2018
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 6:15 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PRP010
Abstract ID:452
Candidate for Awards:None