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Stylish lengths: Mate choice in flowers

Journal of Biosciences volume 36, pages 229–234 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

The styles of flowers may represent an arena for pollen competition in the race to fertilize ovules. Accordingly, selection should favour a longer ‘race’ to better discriminate among variable pollen by increasing style length. Sampling across a taxonomically diverse range of wild and outcrossed species, we found that the distribution of style lengths within plants were skewed towards longer styles, as predicted. In self-pollinated domesticated species, where discrimination among pollen is less important, we found no such pattern. We conclude that style length is under directional selection towards longer styles as a mechanism for mate choice among pollen of variable quality.

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Acknowledgements

The work was partly supported by grants from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and ATREE, Bangalore. Dr Dipanwita Banik, Botanical Survey of India, India, helped with the taxonomic identification of the plants. Thanks are due to Dr KV Ravishankar, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, for providing the seed material of the congeneric species of Lycopersicum.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore, 560 065, India

    B T Ramesha, M D Yetish & R Uma Shaanker

  2. Department of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore, 560 065, India

    M D Yetish & K N Ganeshaiah

  3. School of Ecology and Conservation, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore, 560 065, India

    B T Ramesha, G Ravikanth, K N Ganeshaiah & R Uma Shaanker

  4. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Royal Enclave, Bangalore, 560 064, India

    G Ravikanth, K N Ganeshaiah & R Uma Shaanker

  5. Department of Ecosystem Management, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, 8092, Switzerland

    Jaboury Ghazoul

Authors
  1. B T Ramesha
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  2. M D Yetish
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  3. G Ravikanth
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  4. K N Ganeshaiah
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  5. Jaboury Ghazoul
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  6. R Uma Shaanker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to R Uma Shaanker.

Additional information

[Ramesha BT, Yetish MD, Ravikanth G, Ganeshaiah KN, Ghazoul J and Uma Shaanker R 2011 Stylish lengths: Mate choice in flowers. J. Biosci. 36 XXX–XXX] DOI

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Ramesha, B.T., Yetish, M.D., Ravikanth, G. et al. Stylish lengths: Mate choice in flowers. J Biosci 36, 229–234 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-011-9057-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-011-9057-6

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