Inbreeding in a dioecious plant has sex- and population origin-specific effects on its interactions with pollinators

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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

(2021) Data: Inbreeding in a dioecious plant has sex- and population origin-specific effects on its interactions with pollinators
Dryad Digital Repository, 10.5061/dryad.612jm643d.

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.612jm643d

Article and author information

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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.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7181-2741
Sarah Catherine Paul

Department of Chemical Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Levke Valena Höche

Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Andrea Cecilia Salas

Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Rabi Didszun

Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Jakob Mößnang

Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Caroline Müller

Department of Chemical Ecology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Alexandra Erfmeier

Geobotany, Institute for Ecosystem Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1002-9216
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.

Copyright

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.