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Sexually concordant selection on floral traits despite greater opportunity for selection through male fitness

Hou, Meng ; Opedal, Øystein H. LU and Zhao, Zhi Gang (2024) In New Phytologist 241(2). p.926-936
Abstract

Pollinators are important drivers of floral trait evolution, yet plant populations are not always perfectly adapted to their pollinators. Such apparent maladaptation may result from conflicting selection through male and female sexual functions in hermaphrodites. We studied sex-specific mating patterns and phenotypic selection on floral traits in Aconitum gymnandrum. After genotyping 1786 offspring, we partitioned individual fitness into sex-specific selfed and outcrossed components and estimated phenotypic selection acting through each. Relative fitness increased with increasing mate number, and more so for male function. This led to greater opportunity for selection through outcrossed male fitness, though patterns of phenotypic... (More)

Pollinators are important drivers of floral trait evolution, yet plant populations are not always perfectly adapted to their pollinators. Such apparent maladaptation may result from conflicting selection through male and female sexual functions in hermaphrodites. We studied sex-specific mating patterns and phenotypic selection on floral traits in Aconitum gymnandrum. After genotyping 1786 offspring, we partitioned individual fitness into sex-specific selfed and outcrossed components and estimated phenotypic selection acting through each. Relative fitness increased with increasing mate number, and more so for male function. This led to greater opportunity for selection through outcrossed male fitness, though patterns of phenotypic selection on floral traits tended to be similar, and with better support for selection through female rather than male fitness components. We detected directional selection through one or more fitness component for larger flower number, larger flowers, and more negative nectar gradients within inflorescences. Our results are consistent with Bateman's principles for sex-specific mating patterns and illustrate that, despite the expected difference in opportunity for selection, patterns of variation in selection across traits can be rather similar for the male and female sexual functions. These results shed new light on the effect of sexual selection on the evolution of floral traits.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
floral traits, nectar, plant–pollinator interactions, selection gradient, sex-specific selection
in
New Phytologist
volume
241
issue
2
pages
11 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • pmid:37899633
  • scopus:85175371428
ISSN
0028-646X
DOI
10.1111/nph.19370
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
11f0fac4-772c-4bca-a8b1-f68f516b71e0
date added to LUP
2023-12-18 12:45:44
date last changed
2024-04-17 00:55:00
@article{11f0fac4-772c-4bca-a8b1-f68f516b71e0,
  abstract     = {{<p>Pollinators are important drivers of floral trait evolution, yet plant populations are not always perfectly adapted to their pollinators. Such apparent maladaptation may result from conflicting selection through male and female sexual functions in hermaphrodites. We studied sex-specific mating patterns and phenotypic selection on floral traits in Aconitum gymnandrum. After genotyping 1786 offspring, we partitioned individual fitness into sex-specific selfed and outcrossed components and estimated phenotypic selection acting through each. Relative fitness increased with increasing mate number, and more so for male function. This led to greater opportunity for selection through outcrossed male fitness, though patterns of phenotypic selection on floral traits tended to be similar, and with better support for selection through female rather than male fitness components. We detected directional selection through one or more fitness component for larger flower number, larger flowers, and more negative nectar gradients within inflorescences. Our results are consistent with Bateman's principles for sex-specific mating patterns and illustrate that, despite the expected difference in opportunity for selection, patterns of variation in selection across traits can be rather similar for the male and female sexual functions. These results shed new light on the effect of sexual selection on the evolution of floral traits.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hou, Meng and Opedal, Øystein H. and Zhao, Zhi Gang}},
  issn         = {{0028-646X}},
  keywords     = {{floral traits; nectar; plant–pollinator interactions; selection gradient; sex-specific selection}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{926--936}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{New Phytologist}},
  title        = {{Sexually concordant selection on floral traits despite greater opportunity for selection through male fitness}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.19370}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/nph.19370}},
  volume       = {{241}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}