Abstract
Pollen dispersal has been recently focused on as a major issue in the risk assessment of transgenic crop plants. The shape of the pollen dispersal of individual plants is hard to determine since a very large number of plants must be monitored in order to track rare longdistance dispersal events. Conversely, studies using large plots as a pollen source provide a pollen distribution that depends on the shape of the source plot. We report here on a method based on the use of Fourier transforms by which the pollen dispersal of a single, average individual can be obtained from data using large plots as pollen sources, thus allowing the estimation of the probability of long-distance dispersal for single plants. This method is subsequently implemented on simulated data to test its susceptibility to random noise and edge effects. Its conditions of application and value for use in ecological studies, in particular risk assessment of the deliberate release of transgenic plants, are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bateman AJ (1947) Contamination in seed crops. II Wind pollination. Heredity 1:235–246
Bos M, Harmens H, Vrieling K (1986) Gene flow in Plantago. I Gene flow and neighbourhood size in P. lanceolata. Heredity 56:43–54
BRIDGE (1994) Safety assessment of the deliberate release of two model transgenic crop plants, oilseed rape and sugar beet. Final report
Calcote R (1995) Pollen source area and pollen productivity: evidence from forest hollows. J Ecol 83:591–602
Campbell DR (1991) Comparing pollen dispersal and gene flow in a natural population. Evolution 45:1965–1968
Campbell DR, Waser NM (1989) Variation in pollen flow within and among populations of Ipomopsis aggregata. Evolution 43: 1444–1445
Crawley MJ, Hails RS, Rees M, Kohn D, Buxton J (1993) Ecology of transgenic oilseed rape in natural habitats. Nature 363:620–623
Ellstrand NC, Devlin B, Marshall DL (1989) Gene flow by pollen into small populations:data from experimental and natural stands of wild radish. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:9044–9047
Faegri K, Iversen J (1975) Textbook of pollen analysis 3rd edn., Blackwell Scientific Publ, Oxford London Edinburgh Melbourne
Galen C (1992) Pollen dispersal dynamics in an alpine wildflower, Polemonium viscousm. Evolution 46:1043–1051
Godt MJW, Harmick JL (1993) Patterns and levels of pollen-mediated gene flow in Lathyrus Latifolius. Evolution 7:98–110
Gregorius H-R, Steiner W (1993) Gene transfer in plants as a potential agent of introgression. In: Wöhrmann K, Tomiuk J (eds) Transgenic organisms. Birkaüser Verlag, Basel Switzerland, pp 83–107
Griffiths DJ (1950) The liability of seed crops of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) to contamination of wind-brone pollen. J Agric Sci 40:19–38
Honig MA, Linder HP, Bond WJ (1992) Efficacy of wind pollination: pollen load size and natural macrogametophyte populations in wind-pollinated Staberoha banksii (Restionaceae). Am J Bot 79:443–448
Levin DA, Kerster HW (1969) The dependence of bee-mediated pollen and gene dispersal upon plant density. Evolution 23:560–571
Levin DA, Kerster HW (1974) Gene flow in seed plants. Evol Biol 7:139–220
Linhart YB, Busby WH, Beach JH, Feinsinger P (1987) Forager behavior, pollen dispersal, and inbreeding in two species of hummingbird-pollinated plants. Evolution 41:679–682
Luby JJ, McNicol RJ (1995) Gene flow from cultivated to wild raspberries in Scotland: developing a basis for risk assessment for testing and development of transgenic cultivars. Theor Appl Genet 90:1133–1137
Manasse RS (1992) Ecological risks of transgenic plants: effects of spatial dispersion on gene flow. Ecol Applic 2:431–438
Massaux F, Tchiendji C, Misse C, Decazy B (1976) Etude du transport du pollen de cacaoyer par marquage au 32P. Café Cacao Thé 20:163–171
McPartlan HC, Dale PJ (1994) An assessment of gene transfer by pollen from field-grown transgenic potatoes to non-transgenic potatoes and related species. Transgenic Res 3:216–225
Morris WF, Kareiva PM, Raymer PL (1994) Do barren zones and pollen traps reduce gene escape from transgenic crops? Ecol Applic 4:157–165
Nilsson LA, Rabakonandrianina E, Pettersson B (1992) Exact tracking of pollen transfer and mating in plants. Nature 360:666–668
Okubo A, Levin SA (1989) A theoretical framework for data analysis of wind dispersal of seeds and pollen. Ecology 70:329–338
Peart DR (1985) The quantitative representation of seed and pollen dispersal. Ecology 66:1081–1083
Press WH, Teukolsky SA, Vetterling WT, Flannery BP (1992) Numerical recipes in C: the art of scientific computing, 2nd edn: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 496–545
Schaal BA (1980) Measurements of gene flow in Lupinus texensis. Nature 284:450–451
Scheffler JA, Parkinson R, Dale PJ (1993) Frequency and distance of pollen dispersal from transgenic oilseed rape (Brassica napus). Transgenic Res 2:356–364
Schlising RA, Turpin RA (1971) Hummingbird dispersal of Delphinium cardinale pollen treated with radioactive iodine. Am J Bot 58:401–406
Skogsmyr I (1994) Gene dispersal from transgenic potatoes to conspecifics: a field trial. Theor Appl Genet 88:770–774
Stewart SC (1994) Simultaneous estimation of pollen contamination and pollen fertilities of individual trees in conifer seed orchards using multilocus genetic data. Theor Appl Genet 88:593–596
Stone R (1994) Large plots are next test for transgenic crop safety. Science 266:1472–1473
Tauber H (1965) Differential pollen dispersion and the interpretation of pollen diagrams. Geol Surv Denmark II Ser No 89
Tiedje JM, Clowell RK, Grossman YL, Hodson RE, Mack RN, Regal PJ (1989) The planned introduction of genetically engineered organisms: ecological considerations and recommendations. Ecology 70:298–315
Thomson JD, Thomson BA (1989) Dispersal of Erythronium grandiflorum pollen by bumblebees: implications for gene flow and reproductive success. Evolution 43:657–661
Tonsor ST (1985) Leptokurtic pollen-flow, non leptokurtic gene-flow in a wind-pollinated herb, Plantago loceolata L. Oecologia 67:442–446
Tynan JL, Williams MK, Conner AJ (1990) Low frequency of pollen dispersal from a field trial of transgenic potatoes. J Gen Breed 44:303–306
Umbeck PF, Barton KA, Nordheim EV, McCarty JC, Parrot WL, Jenkins JN (1991) Degree of pollen dispersal from a field test of genetically engineered cotton. J Econ Entomol 84:1943–1950
Wanger DB, Allard RW (1991) Pollen migration in a predominantly self-fertilizing plants: barley. J. Hered 82:302–304
Waser NM. Price MV (1982) A comparison of pollen and fluorescent dye carry-over by natural pollinators of Ipomopsis aggregata (Polemoniaceae). Ecology 63:1168–1172
Wright S (1931) Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics 16:97–159
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by P.M.A. Tigerstedt
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lavigne, C., Godelle, B., Reboud, X. et al. A method to determine the mean pollen dispersal of individual plants growing within a large pollen source. Theoret. Appl. Genetics 93, 1319–1326 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00223465
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00223465