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Stabilizing selection on nectar concentration in wild Petunia axillaris, as revealed by genetic analysis of pollen dispersal

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Abstract

Most animal-pollinated plants produce nectar as a pollinator reward. Despite the main role that nectar plays in plant-pollinator interactions, the impact of natural variation in nectar traits on realized male fitness is poorly known. Here, we assessed this relation for a wild Petunia axillaris population using paternity-based direct selection gradient analysis, which allowed us also to infer pollen dispersal patterns. Because male fecundity may depend on other traits which could be associated with nectar characteristics (i.e. volume and concentration), we also considered selection on other key reproductive traits. The analysis revealed that P. axillaris was a strict outcrosser, but that successful pollination occurred mainly among neighbours. Individual plants varied greatly in their male fecundity. Nectar concentration, a key feature of nectar that determines its profitability, was subjected to stabilizing selection. Selection through male function also affected corolla area (positive directional selection), corolla tube length (negative directional selection), and floral display size (stabilizing selection), but none of these traits were phenotypically correlated with nectar characteristics. Because nectar concentration affects the ability and foraging efficiency of different flower visitors to feed on nectar, stabilizing selection may reflect either the preference of the most effective pollinators, or antagonistic selection driven by pollinators and non-pollinating nectar consumers.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Marcelo Aizen, Redouan Bshary, Lawrence Harder, Cris Kuhlemeier, three anonymous reviewers and the editors for comments, Dessislava Savova-Bianchi, Eligio Bossolini, José Gabriel Segarra-Moragues, Leonardo Galetto, Portia Lloyd, Mariana Musicante and Denis Pernecker for practical help, and Lawrence Harder for access to the particle counter. This study was supported by the Swiss NSF (Grant No. 3100A0_122004/1 to GB, Grant No. IZK0Z3-125693 to FA and GB) and the Fondation Mercier pour la Science. GG is a member of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas from Argentina. This project benefitted intellectually from collaboration with Cris Kuhlemeier and Redouan Bshary within the framework of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Plant Survival (Work package 2.2), a program of the Swiss NSF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, CONICET, Universidad del Comahue, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina

    Gabriela Gleiser

  2. Institute of Biology, Evolutionary Botany, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile Argand 11, 2000, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Gabriela Gleiser, Antonina Ingrid Internicola & Giorgina Bernasconi

  3. Laboratoire d’ Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, UMR 7206, CNRS, MNHN, Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75231, Paris, France

    Frédéric Austerlitz

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  1. Gabriela Gleiser
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Correspondence to Gabriela Gleiser.

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Gleiser, G., Internicola, A.I., Austerlitz, F. et al. Stabilizing selection on nectar concentration in wild Petunia axillaris, as revealed by genetic analysis of pollen dispersal. Evol Ecol 28, 869–884 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-014-9714-y

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