Nectar secondary compounds affect self-pollen transfer: implications for female and male reproduction

Ecology
Rebecca E Irwin, Lynn S Adler

Abstract

Pollen movement within and among plants affects inbreeding, plant fitness, and the spatial scale of genetic differentiation. Although a number of studies have assessed how plant and floral traits influence pollen movement via changes in pollinator behavior, few have explored how nectar chemical composition affects pollen transfer. As many as 55% of plants produce secondary compounds in their nectar, which is surprising given that nectar is typically thought to attract pollinators. We tested the hypothesis that nectar with secondary compounds may benefit plants by encouraging pollinators to leave plants after visiting only a few flowers, thus reducing self-pollen transfer. We used Gelsemium sempervirens, a plant whose nectar contains the alkaloid gelsemine, which has been shown to be a deterrent to foraging bee pollinators. We found that high nectar alkaloids reduced the total and proportion of self-pollen received by one-half and one-third, respectively. However, nectar alkaloids did not affect female reproduction when we removed the potential for self-pollination (by emasculating all flowers on plants). We then tested the assumption that self-pollen in combination with outcrossed pollen depresses seed set. We found that plants...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 31, 2014·Journal of Chemical Ecology·George A Meindl, Tia-Lynn Ashman
Dec 10, 2013·Journal of Chemical Ecology·Maaike BruinsmaJoop J A van Loon
May 3, 2011·Current Opinion in Plant Biology·Danny Kessler, Ian T Baldwin
Feb 25, 2011·Trends in Plant Science·Martin Heil
Jul 28, 2012·Ecology Letters·Lynn S AdlerGeoffrey E Morse
Jan 6, 2009·Plant Biology·N M van Dam
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May 19, 2012·Toxins·Sébastien IbanezLaurence Després
Jan 22, 2019·Critical Reviews in Microbiology·Pasquale FilanninoMarco Gobbetti
Aug 7, 2019·Molecules : a Journal of Synthetic Chemistry and Natural Product Chemistry·Bettie Obi JohnsonNigel Wolfram
Jul 19, 2017·Plant Science : an International Journal of Experimental Plant Biology·Rahul RoyClay J Carter

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