Elevational and temporal patterns of pollination success in distylous and homostylous buckwheats(Fagopyrum)in the Hengduan Mountains

Reproductive strategies of sexually dimorphic plants vary in response to the environment.Here,we ask whether the sexual systems of Fagopyrum species(i.e.,selfing homostylous and out-crossing distylous)represent distinct adaptive strategies to increase reproductive success in changing alpine environments.To answer this question,we determined how spatial and temporal factors(e.g.,elevation and peak flowering time)affect reproductive success(i.e.,stigmatic pollen load)in nine wild Fagopyrum species(seven distylous and two homostylous)among 28 populations along an elevation gradient of 1299-3315 m in the Hengduan Mountains,southwestern China.We also observed pollinators and conducted hundreds of hand pollinations to investigate inter/intra-morph compatibility,self-compatibility and pollen limitation in four Fagopyrum species(two distylous and two homostylous).We found that Fagopyrum species at higher elevation generally had bigger flowers and more stigmatic pollen loads;lateflowering individuals had smaller flowers and lower pollen deposition.Stigmatic pollen deposition was more variable in distylous species than in homostylous species.Although seed set was not pollenlimited in all species,we found that fruit set was much lower in distylous species,which rely on frequent pollinator visits,than in homostylous species capable of autonomous self-pollination.Our findings that pollination success increases at high elevations and decreases during the flowering season suggest that distylous and homostylous species have spatially and temporally distinct reproductive strategies related to environment-dependent pollinator activity.

Degree of style coiling is associated with corolla-tube length in the nectarless flowers of Roscoea schneideriana

The plant-pollinator‘arms race’model posits that a major driver of the evolution of elongated corollas in flowers is reciprocal selection for‘morphological fit’between pollinator-tongue length and access distance to nectar(usually corolla-tube length).Evidence for the pollinator-mediated selection on tube length and evolution of multiple,correlated floral traits remains inconclusive.To gain possible insights into the strength of stabilizing selection by assessing standing phenotypic variation,we measured a series of functionally important floral traits,including corolla tube length and‘effective’tube depth and degree of style coiling.We then calculated coefficients of variation(CV)for these traits in three field populations of R.schneideriana.Unlike in most long-tubed flowers,the bottom part of the corolla tube is completely occupied by the style,with no room for nectar.The length of this portion of the corolla tube was more variable(higher CV)than the upper part of the corolla tube,suggesting that functional tube depth was under stronger stabilizing selection.The degree of style coiling was negatively related to the corolla-tube length in all three populations of R.schneideriana,suggesting that there may be conflicting selection acting on style length and corolla-tube length,which are otherwise usually tightly correlated.Given the lack of nectar in the flowers of this species,the long corolla tubes and long styles may represent morphological holdovers from ancestors that were pollinated by long-tongued pollinators,as is still seen in related species in the western Himalayas.