The Incidence and Implications of Mate Diversity in Seed Plants

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dc.contributor.advisorHarder, Lawrence D.
dc.contributor.advisorReid, Mary L.
dc.contributor.authorRegel, Colby Elizabeth
dc.contributor.committeememberAizen, Marcelo A.
dc.contributor.committeememberSamuel, Marcus A.
dc.date2019-11
dc.date.accessioned2019-09-09T16:42:47Z
dc.date.available2019-09-09T16:42:47Z
dc.date.issued2019-09-04
dc.description.abstractMultiple mating in outcrossing plant species is common. For seed plants, reliance on pollen vectors and mixed pollination resulting from pollen carryover among flowers and visits by multiple vectors to individual flowers generates inevitable polygamy and diverse paternity. Mate diversity can provide direct quantitative benefits when reproduction is limited by mating opportunities and indirect qualitative benefits associated with sampling alternative mates and offspring and spreading the risk of poor mates, offspring and offspring environments. Nevertheless, whether mate diversity is simply an emergent property of cross-pollination or an independent beneficial feature of plant mating systems subject to selection remains unclear. To investigate the influences on and consequences of a maternal plant’s male mate diversity among and within flowers I conducted a meta-analysis of 108 seed plant species and a field experiment with Alstroemeria aurea, an Argentine flowering plant. Analysis of variation in effective mate number, Ep, a Hill number, identified various morphological and ecological influences on maternal mate diversity, with associations differing for among- and within-fruit mate diversity. Most species exhibited a mean Ep of fewer than 10 mates. Larger bodies, abiotic pollination and separation of sex functions greatly increased Ep. Trait correlates of mate diversity were largely consistent with overall promotion of outcrossing but not phylogenetic relatedness. The meta-analysis also revealed novel implications of correlated traits for mate number and the evenness of plant mating portfolios. Specifically, separation of sexual functions within or among flowers seems to promote receipt of diverse compatible pollen. Abundant ovule number per flower increases evenness of mate contributions. Plant traits that influence mate diversity can also play a role in its optimization. Greater mate diversity is not universally advantageous, as illustrated by the field experiment with A. aurea. Effects of experimental pollination with 1, 2 or 4 mates applied separately among or together within flowers identified costs of progamic and offspring bias for fruit and seed production. These quantitative costs can offset the largely qualitative benefits of multiple mating. Thus, mate diversity in plants may often be optimized to maximize the benefit:cost ratio, depending on local conditions of the mating environment. Whether paternal mate diversity is subject to similar optimization remains to be assessed.en_US
dc.identifier.citationRegel, C. E. (2019). The Incidence and Implications of Mate Diversity in Seed Plants (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/36962
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/110890
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultyScienceen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectPlant matingen_US
dc.subjectMate diversityen_US
dc.subjectPollinationen_US
dc.subjectPlant reproductionen_US
dc.subjectPlant evolutionary ecologyen_US
dc.subjectMating portfoliosen_US
dc.subjectAlstroemeria aureaen_US
dc.subjectCorrelated paternityen_US
dc.subjectEffective mate numberen_US
dc.subjectMultiple matingen_US
dc.subject.classificationBiologyen_US
dc.subject.classificationBotanyen_US
dc.subject.classificationEcologyen_US
dc.titleThe Incidence and Implications of Mate Diversity in Seed Plantsen_US
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineBiological Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (MSc)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
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