Inbreeding depression in dioecious populations of the plant Mercurialis annua: comparisons between outcrossed progeny and the progeny of self-fertilized feminized males.

Inbreeding depression is a key factor in the maintenance of separate sexes in plants through selection for the avoidance of self-fertilization. However, very little is known about the levels of inbreeding depression in dioecious species, obviously because it is difficult to self-fertilize males or f...

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Autors principals: Eppley, S, Pannell, J
Format: Journal article
Idioma:English
Publicat: 2009
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author Eppley, S
Pannell, J
author_facet Eppley, S
Pannell, J
author_sort Eppley, S
collection OXFORD
description Inbreeding depression is a key factor in the maintenance of separate sexes in plants through selection for the avoidance of self-fertilization. However, very little is known about the levels of inbreeding depression in dioecious species, obviously because it is difficult to self-fertilize males or females. We overcame this problem by clonally propagating males from lineages in a dioecious metapopulation of the European annual plant Mercurialis annua, feminizing some of them and crossing the feminized with the unfeminized clones. Using this method, we compared the fitness of selfed vs outcrossed progeny under field conditions in Spain, where this species grows naturally. Multiplicative inbreeding depression (based on seed germination, early and late survival, seed mass and pollen viability) ranged from -0.69 to 0.82, with a mean close to zero. We consider possible explanations for both the low mean and high variance in inbreeding depression in M. annua, and we discuss the implications of our results for the maintenance of dioecy over hermaphroditism.
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spelling oxford-uuid:b34d05b1-f74d-4217-ae2f-e088d8fc48a62022-03-27T04:17:58ZInbreeding depression in dioecious populations of the plant Mercurialis annua: comparisons between outcrossed progeny and the progeny of self-fertilized feminized males.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b34d05b1-f74d-4217-ae2f-e088d8fc48a6EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2009Eppley, SPannell, JInbreeding depression is a key factor in the maintenance of separate sexes in plants through selection for the avoidance of self-fertilization. However, very little is known about the levels of inbreeding depression in dioecious species, obviously because it is difficult to self-fertilize males or females. We overcame this problem by clonally propagating males from lineages in a dioecious metapopulation of the European annual plant Mercurialis annua, feminizing some of them and crossing the feminized with the unfeminized clones. Using this method, we compared the fitness of selfed vs outcrossed progeny under field conditions in Spain, where this species grows naturally. Multiplicative inbreeding depression (based on seed germination, early and late survival, seed mass and pollen viability) ranged from -0.69 to 0.82, with a mean close to zero. We consider possible explanations for both the low mean and high variance in inbreeding depression in M. annua, and we discuss the implications of our results for the maintenance of dioecy over hermaphroditism.
spellingShingle Eppley, S
Pannell, J
Inbreeding depression in dioecious populations of the plant Mercurialis annua: comparisons between outcrossed progeny and the progeny of self-fertilized feminized males.
title Inbreeding depression in dioecious populations of the plant Mercurialis annua: comparisons between outcrossed progeny and the progeny of self-fertilized feminized males.
title_full Inbreeding depression in dioecious populations of the plant Mercurialis annua: comparisons between outcrossed progeny and the progeny of self-fertilized feminized males.
title_fullStr Inbreeding depression in dioecious populations of the plant Mercurialis annua: comparisons between outcrossed progeny and the progeny of self-fertilized feminized males.
title_full_unstemmed Inbreeding depression in dioecious populations of the plant Mercurialis annua: comparisons between outcrossed progeny and the progeny of self-fertilized feminized males.
title_short Inbreeding depression in dioecious populations of the plant Mercurialis annua: comparisons between outcrossed progeny and the progeny of self-fertilized feminized males.
title_sort inbreeding depression in dioecious populations of the plant mercurialis annua comparisons between outcrossed progeny and the progeny of self fertilized feminized males
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AT pannellj inbreedingdepressionindioeciouspopulationsoftheplantmercurialisannuacomparisonsbetweenoutcrossedprogenyandtheprogenyofselffertilizedfeminizedmales