Abstract
It has been hypothesized that the fitness of selfed progeny must be lowered by inbreeding depression. Most research into the breeding systems of orchids shows a similar fruit set from outcrossing and self-pollination, but few studies have measured seed production and viability. In five populations of Laelia autumnalis, in central México, we studied the species reproductive system and the early costs of endogamy. We performed spontaneous self-pollination, apomixis, assisted self-pollination, cross-pollination, and exogamous pollination (using pollen from a different population) treatments of bagged flowers and measured fruit set, seed production, and germination. No fruits were produced in the apomixis and spontaneous self-pollination treatments. Reproductive success from self-pollination was lower than that from cross- and exogamous pollination and no difference was found between the latter two treatments. The ratio between self-pollination and cross-pollination success in different traits ranged from 0.80 ± 0.18 (fruit set) to 0.22 ± 0.13 (seeds with embryo). The latter value suggests a high endogamy costs in the production of viable seeds. The concatenated success of the different traits studied showed that the relative fitness of self-pollination was 63% lower than with cross-pollination. Laelia autumnalis is a self-compatible non-autogamous species in which the cost of endogamy occurs at seed production and cannot be compensated for at other early stages. This also occurs in other orchid species and is likely to be a general pattern.
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Acknowledgements
We express our thanks to A A. Emeterio Lara, for invaluable assistance with the fieldwork, and Ma. Guadalupe Rangel. The comments and critiques of J. Morales-Linares, K. MacMillan, and two anonymous reviewers enriched the study. This study was supported by a Grant from CONACyT awarded to AEL (CVU/Becario:443805/268205) and the CiβγC. This study is a partial requirement for completion of the PhD of AEL in the Doctorate of Natural Sciences, UAEM.
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Emeterio-Lara, A., García-Franco, J.G., Hernández-Apolinar, M. et al. Endogamy costs and reproductive biology of Laelia autumnalis, an endemic orchid of Mexico. Plant Ecol 219, 1423–1434 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-018-0891-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-018-0891-6