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Pollen heteromorphism is pervasive in Thalictrum (Ranunculaceae)

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Abstract

Among the angiosperms, features of pollen morphology such as grain size, aperture number and surface ornamentation display striking variation. It is less well appreciated that pollen morphology may vary within and among populations of the same species as well as within individual plants. In some species, individual plants produce multiple types of fertile pollen grains (called pollen heteromorphism). Aspects of pollen morphology, such as aperture number, are likely to affect fertilization success with different morphologies favored in different local competitive and ecological environments. This study surveys variation in pollen grain morphology among species throughout the genus Thalictrum. Pollen from individuals of 36 species was rehydrated from herbarium specimens, and light microscopy was used to quantify pollen grain aperture number and size. I find that pollen aperture-number heteromorphism is present within all Thalictrum species studied, and distributions of aperture-number morphs vary both within and among species. This study provides an example of significant pollen heteromorphism within a genus that also varies widely for pollination mode and sexual system.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks Dr. E. Knox (IND), Dr. J. Solomon (MO), Dr. B.M. Thiers (NY), Dr. B.E. Wofford (TENN) and A.P. Clark (US) for assistance in obtaining herbarium specimens and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

Funding

This study was funded by the Rosemary Grant Student Research Award from the Society for the Study of Evolution to R.P. Humphrey and National Science Foundation DEB-0813766 to L.F. Delph. Shipping of herbarium specimens was funded by the Indiana University Herbarium (Director: Dr. Eric Knox).

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  1. Rebecca P. Humphrey

    Present address: Department of Biology, Aquinas College, 1607 Robinson Road SE, Grand Rapids, MI, 49506, USA

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  1. Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Rebecca P. Humphrey

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  1. Rebecca P. Humphrey
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Correspondence to Rebecca P. Humphrey.

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Handling editor: Hervé Sauquet.

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Information on Electronic Supplementary Material

Online Resource 1 Listing of Thalictrum herbarium specimens from which pollen was collected for assessments of pollen grain size and aperture number. Each entry notes the locality where the specimen was collected, the holding herbarium, and specimen ID numbers or other identifying information as available.

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Humphrey, R.P. Pollen heteromorphism is pervasive in Thalictrum (Ranunculaceae). Plant Syst Evol 302, 1171–1177 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-016-1312-8

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