Summary
The absence of cross-pollination in Cirsium palustre and Cirsium vulgare resulted in reduced achene production while the achenes produced were heavier than those produced after cross-pollimation. Establishment of plants from non-cross-pollinated achenes is comparatively higher, facilitating the founding of a population from isolated individuals in these wind-dispersed species.
If achene weight is the result of a balance between cross-pollination and self-pollination (and/or apomixis), the first causing more and thereby lighter achenes to develop, increasing density of flowering individuals in a population may lower achene weight and consequently seedling survival. This may account for the frequently observed decline of populations of fugitive monocarpic perennials.
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Publication of the ‘Meijendel-comité’, Nieuwe Serie no. 58
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van Leeuwen, B.H. The role of pollination in the population biology of the monocarpic species Cirsium palustre and Cirsium vulgare . Oecologia 51, 28–32 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00344647
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00344647