Abstract
Premise: Pollen movement is a crucial component of dispersal in seed plants. Although pollen dispersal is well studied, methodological constraints have made it challenging to directly track pollen flow within multiple populations across landscapes. We labeled pollen with quantum dots, a new technique that overcomes past limitations, to evaluate the spatial scale of pollen dispersal and its relationship with conspecific density within 11 populations of Clarkia xantiana subsp. xantiana, a bee-pollinated annual plant. Methods: We used experimental arrays in two years to track pollen movement across distances of 5–35 m within nine populations and across distances of 10–70 m within two additional populations. We tested for distance decay of pollen dispersal, whether conspecific density modulated dispersal distance, and whether dispersal kernels varied among populations across an environmentally complex landscape. Results: Labeled pollen receipt did not decline with distance over 35 m within eight of nine populations or over 70 m within either of two populations. Pollen receipt increased with conspecific density. Overall, dispersal kernels were consistent across populations. Conclusions: The surprising uniformity in dispersal distance within different populations was likely influenced by low precipitation and plant density in our study years. This suggests that spatiotemporal variation in the abiotic environment substantially influences the extent of gene flow within and among populations.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | e16201 |
Journal | American journal of botany |
Volume | 110 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank T. Mueller for assistance in the field and D. Schoenecker and C. D. O'Leary for help with sample processing. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (DEB‐1754246 and DEB‐1754026 to D.A.M.) and an award from the Bell Museum of Natural History (U. of Minnesota) to B.R.K.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Botanical Society of America.
Keywords
- bee pollination
- Clarkia xantiana (Onagraceae)
- gene flow
- pollen flow
- pollen tracking
- pollination
- quantum dots
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.