TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schleuning, Matthias
A1  - Templin, Mathias
A1  - Huaman, Vicky
A1  - Vadillo, Giovana P.
A1  - Becker, Thomas
A1  - Durka, Walter
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Matthies, Diethart
T1  - Effects of inbreeding, outbreeding, and supplemental pollen on the reproduction of a hummingbird-pollinated clonal amazonian herb
JF  - Biotropica : a publication of the Association for Tropical Biology
N2  - Understory herbs are an essential part of tropical rain forests, but little is known about factors limiting their reproduction. Many of these herbs are clonal, patchily distributed, and produce large floral displays of nectar-rich 1-d flowers to attract hummingbird pollinators that may transport pollen over long distances. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of clonality, cross-proximity, and patchy distribution on the reproduction of the hummingbird-pollinated Amazonian herb Heliconia metallica. We experimentally pollinated flowers within populations with self-pollen and with pollen of different diversity, crossed flowers between populations, and added supplemental pollen to ramets growing solitarily or in conspecific patches. Only flowers pollinated early in the morning produced seeds. Selfed flowers produced seeds, but seed number and mass were strongly reduced, suggesting partial sterility and inbreeding depression after selfing. Because of pollen competition, flowers produced more seeds after crosses with several than with single donor plants. Crosses between populations mostly resulted in lower seed production than those within populations, suggesting outbreeding depression. Ramets in patches produced fewer seeds than solitary ramets and were more pollen-limited, possibly due to geitonogamy and biparental inbreeding in patches. We conclude that high rates of geitonogamy due to clonality and pollen limitation due to the short receptivity of flowers and patchy distribution constrain the reproduction of this clonal herb. Even in unfragmented rain forests with highly mobile pollinators, outbreeding depression may be a widespread phenomenon in plant reproduction.
KW  - clonality
KW  - geitonogamy
KW  - Heliconiaceae
KW  - hummingbird pollination
KW  - Peru
KW  - pollen limitation
KW  - pollination experiment
KW  - rain forest understory
Y1  - 2011
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00663.x
SN  - 0006-3606
VL  - 43
IS  - 2
SP  - 183
EP  - 191
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Malden
ER  -