1. Ecology
  2. Evolutionary Biology
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Inbreeding in a dioecious plant has sex- and population origin-specific effects on its interactions with pollinators

  1. Karin Schrieber  Is a corresponding author
  2. Sarah Catherine Paul
  3. Levke Valena Höche
  4. Andrea Cecilia Salas
  5. Rabi Didszun
  6. Jakob Mößnang
  7. Caroline Müller
  8. Alexandra Erfmeier
  9. Elisabeth Eilers
  1. Kiel University, Germany
  2. Bielefeld University, Germany
Research Article
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Cite this article as: eLife 2021;10:e65610 doi: 10.7554/eLife.65610

Abstract

We study the effects of inbreeding in a dioecious plant on its interaction with pollinating insects and test whether the magnitude of such effects is shaped by plant individual sex and the evolutionary histories of plant populations. We recorded spatial, scent, colour and rewarding flower traits as well as pollinator visitation rates in experimentally inbred and outbred, male and female Silene latifolia plants from European and North American populations differing in their evolutionary histories. We found that inbreeding specifically impairs spatial flower traits and floral scent. Our results support that sex-specific selection and gene expression may have partially magnified these inbreeding costs for females, and that divergent evolutionary histories altered the genetic architecture underlying inbreeding effects across population origins. Moreover, the results indicate that inbreeding effects on floral scent may have a huge potential to disrupt interactions among plants and nocturnal moth pollinators, which are mediated by elaborate chemical communication.

Data availability

All datasets and analyses supporting this article have been deposited to Dryad, under the DOI 10.5061/dryad.612jm643d

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Karin Schrieber

    Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
    For correspondence
    kschrieber@ecology.uni-kiel.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7181-2741

  2. Sarah Catherine Paul

    Department of Chemical Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Levke Valena Höche

    Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Andrea Cecilia Salas

    Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Rabi Didszun

    Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Jakob Mößnang

    Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Caroline Müller

    Department of Chemical Ecology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  8. Alexandra Erfmeier

    Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1002-9216

  9. Elisabeth Eilers

    Department of Chemical Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

Kiel University, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, program for promotion of young female scientists

  • Karin Schrieber
  • Alexandra Erfmeier

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Youngsung Joo, Chungbuk National University, Republic of Korea

Publication history

  1. Received: December 9, 2021
  2. Accepted: May 9, 2021
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: May 14, 2021 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: May 27, 2021 (version 2)
  5. Version of Record updated: June 3, 2021 (version 3)

Copyright

© 2021, Schrieber et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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