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How a heterostylous plant species responds to life on remote islands: a comparative study of the morphology and reproductive biology of Waltheria ovata on the coasts of Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands

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Abstract

Heterostylous reproductive systems are usually absent on oceanic island. Self-compatibility would, generally, be advantageous for long-distance dispersing species, as it provides reproductive assurance when density of mates is low. The heterostylous reproductive system, often associated with an incompatibility system, may be a constraint on the colonization of remote habitats. It is, therefore, surprising that the distylous shrub Waltheria ovata has colonized all of the Galápagos Islands, situated more than a thousand kilometres off the shore of Ecuador. The present study confirmed the reciprocal herkogamy of W. ovata. A comparison of mainland and the Galápagos Island populations showed a reduction in flower size, including distance between anthers and stigmas and size of anthers on the islands. Some reductions are quite large but not significantly different, mainly due to a high degree of variation among populations on the islands. The pin morph of W. ovata has undergone the most radical adaptive changes in morphology. Pollination experiments of W. ovata disclosed a leak in the incompatibility system on the Galápagos Islands, allowing higher selfing rates as well as intra-morph seed set compared to the mainland populations. This was most pronounced in the thrum morph. The deficient distylous reproductive system may be an adaptation to a pollinator and mate sparse environment on the Galápagos Islands. We conclude that the heterostylous mating system has changed in response to colonization of the Galápagos Islands, giving room for reproductive assurance by seed set after selfings and intra-morph pollinations.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank The National Park Service of Galápagos for permission to carry out our study and The Charles Darwin Research Station for arranging our travels. We are in debt to The Villum Kann Rasmussen Foundation, Brødrene Hartmanns Fond and Torben og Alice Frimodts Fond for financial support. We are obliged to Erik Dahl Kjær for valuable statistical help and Lene Rostgaard Nielsen gave helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript and Sylvia Mathiasen corrected the language. Furthermore, reviewers provided us with important and constructive comments.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

    Christina Bramow, Ida Hartvig, Signe Brandt Larsen & Marianne Philipp

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  1. Christina Bramow
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  2. Ida Hartvig
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  3. Signe Brandt Larsen
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  4. Marianne Philipp
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Correspondence to Marianne Philipp.

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Bramow, C., Hartvig, I., Larsen, S.B. et al. How a heterostylous plant species responds to life on remote islands: a comparative study of the morphology and reproductive biology of Waltheria ovata on the coasts of Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. Evol Ecol 27, 83–100 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-012-9588-9

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