Comparisons of the causes and consequences of cross- and self-fertilization have dominated research on plant mating since Darwin's seminal work on plant reproduction. Here, I provide examples of these accomplishments, but also illustrate new approaches that emphasize the role of floral design and display in pollen dispersal and fitness gain through male function. Wide variation in outcrossing r...

Many species expanded their geographic ranges from core "refugium" populations when the global climate warmed after the Pleistocene. The bottlenecks that occur during such range expansions diminish genetic variation in marginal populations, rendering them less responsive to selection. Here, we show that range expansion also strongly depletes inbreeding depression. We compared inbreeding depress...

HE selfand cross-incompatibilities of a number of obligately cross-polliT nated species of flowering plants are genetically determined by series of multiple oppositional alleles. The oppositional or personate incompatibility system was first described, with substantiating data, by EAST and MANGELSDORF (1925) for Nicotiana species. The existence of oppositional alleles has been subsequently demo...

Three relatively isolated stands and 9 allozyme loci (Got-B, Idh-A, Lap-A, Mdh-B, Mdh-C, Mnr-A, 6-Pgdh-A, Pgi-B and Pgm-A) were used to study the mating system in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). Multilocus outcrossing rates for the three stands were high (t,, = 1.015-1.025), but did not differ significantly from 1. According to paternity analysis, the maximum selfing rates ranged from 5.6 ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Floral design in self-compatible plants can influence mating patterns. This study investigated Narcissus longispathus, a self-compatible bee-pollinated species with wide variation in anther-stigma separation (herkogamy), to determine the relationship between variation in this floral trait and the relative amounts of cross- and self-fertilization. METHODS Anther-stigma sepa...

We present a Bayesian method for the reconstruction of pedigrees in clonal populations using co-dominant genomic markers such as microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The accuracy of the algorithm is demonstrated for simulated data. We show that the joint estimation of parameters of interest such as the rate of self-fertilization is possible with high accuracy even with ma...

A population of 420 snails Biomphalaria straminea, an intermediate host of Schistosoma mansoni, received gamma-rays obtained from a 60Co source in low-doses (0/2,5/5/7,5/10/15/20 and 25 Gy); half population was kept in colonies (allowing cross fertilization) and the other half was maintained in sexual isolation (allowing self fertilization). Results showed that 15 Gy stimulates the fertility of...

Based on previous studies, extreme (>99%) self-sterility in scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata) appears to be involved in late-acting ovarian self-incompatibility (OSI). Here, we confirm this suggestion by comparing structural events that follow from cross- vs. self-pollinations of I. aggregata. Growth of cross- and self-pollen tubes in the style at 11 h and growth in the ovary at 24 h was equi...