Abstract Detail

Ecological Section

Stephens, Samantha [1], Dorken, Marcel Eric [2].

The effects of clonality on patterns of siring success in a natural population of Sagittara latifolia (Alismataceae).

How reproductive investment scales with fitness is a central issue in life-history theory but it has remained largely uninvestigated, particularly in natural populations. For male sexual function, investment in pollen production is generally expected to yield saturating (diminishing) fitness returns. In part, this is because pollen dispersal tends to be spatially restricted, limiting mating opportunities (i.e., via local mate competition). It has been predicted that clonality might alleviate spatial limitations during mating; if genets are strongly intermingled mating opportunities should be less dependent on the total pollen investment per genet, linearizing fitness gains. There have been remarkably few investigations of the association between the investment in male function and siring success and the effects of clonality on male-function fitness are poorly understood. To examine these topics, we mapped and genotyped an entire population of the clonal plant Sagittaria latifolia (650 shoots) using 8 nuclear microsatellite loci. Reproductive investment was measured as the number of male flowers produced per ramet, and siring success was measured as the number of seeds sired per genet.

1 - Trent University, Biology, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B*, Canada
2 - Trent University, Biology, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada

Keywords:
fitness gain curves
sex-allocation theory
clonality
Molecular markers
spatial ecology.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 52
Location: Salon 6/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Tuesday, July 28th, 2015
Time: 2:30 PM
Number: 52004
Abstract ID:767
Candidate for Awards:None