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Bulbils contra seeds: reproductive investment in two species of Gagea (Liliaceae)

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Abstract

The reproductive biology of the sympatric species Gagea lutea and Gagea spathacea was analyzed morphologically and by resource allocation measurements. Both taxa reproduce vegetatively by bulbils. The hexaploid G. lutea regularly forms seeds, but flowering plants cease to produce bulbils. Seed set was never observed in nonaploid G. spathacea which does not stop vegetative reproduction when flowering. In this species, the pollen contains a high proportion of non-viable grains. Already sterile plants invest more resources (per cent of total nitrogen) into bulbils than G. lutea (10.9 vs. 5.9%). For flowering plants, the respective values are 6.1% (flowers) plus 18.4% (bulbils) for G. spathacea versus 14.8% (flowers only) for G. lutea. G. spathacea lost the ability to reproduce sexually and relies solely on vegetative reproduction. This seems to require the breakdown of the switch mechanism between the bulbil and flower formation (as in G. lutea) and a higher net investment in reproduction, hampering individual growth.

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Acknowledgments

Most of the measurements for morphological data were carried out within several student courses, and we wish to thank all participants, especially C. Brummond, J. Dobbert, N. Formella, H. Kasten, A. Krüger, M. Liermann, L. Lohmann, J. Mohr, L. Niehusen, A. Roschanski, S. Schmidt, and A.-K. Zießnitz. For permission and advice to use the N/C analyzer we are indebted to U. Möbius and S. Zerbe; for use of a fluorescence microscope to S. Stremlau and Ch. Stöhr. Search for localities, but also the organization of field work was supported by S. Starke and A. Klahr (all Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology). For advices, especially concerning localities, we are grateful to H. Henker (Wismar). We wish to thank the “Staatliches Amt für Umwelt und Natur Ueckermünde” for permission to collect plants and two anonymous reviewers for useful comments and advices.

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  1. Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald, Grimmer Straße 88, 17487, Greifswald, Germany

    Martin Schnittler, Tanja Pfeiffer, David Harter & Anne Hamann

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  1. Martin Schnittler
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  2. Tanja Pfeiffer
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Correspondence to Tanja Pfeiffer.

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Schnittler, M., Pfeiffer, T., Harter, D. et al. Bulbils contra seeds: reproductive investment in two species of Gagea (Liliaceae). Plant Syst Evol 279, 29–40 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-008-0143-7

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