Abstract
By the example of morphological features of pollen of eight species of Nierembergia and two species of Bouchetia (Solanaceae family), the properties of individual variability are described. Most of the studied characters (structure of apertures, ultrastructure of the sporoderm, surface sculpture, and dimensions) do not have significant differences at the individual and intraspecific levels; taxonomically significant variability of morphological features of pollen is manifested at the level of the genus and suprageneric groups. The genera differ significantly in the sculpture of the pollen grain surface—striate in Nierembergia and tuberculate in Bouchetia. Pollen contained in one bud, anther, or tetrad (fully completed gametophytic generation, where there is no death and all without exception descendants of one ancestor are alive), is considered as an extreme model (maximum completeness with minimum complexity) to study the properties of natural morphological variability and the causes of its occurrence. It was found that pollen characters (sculpture, number and location of apertures) have the same pattern of variability (continuous and transitively ordered series), which is embodied at different taxonomic levels in different characters. The natural variability of morphological features of pollen is ordered not into a genealogical clade, but into a cline—continuous, geometrically ordered and transitive series (taxon-nonspecific and rank-independent). In this system of parallelisms, homologous series are inseparable from nonhomologous ones, and typical forms are inseparable from deviations. The origin of typical and deviant forms cannot be explained separately (typical—genealogically, and deviant—as parallelism, convergence, chance or regularity). The individual variability of pollen forms is geometrically ordered and is not the result of random disturbances, failures of the hereditary program, or pathology. The typical form turns out to be a harmonious part of a geometrically ordered series of pure forms, free from functional and historical connotations. The similarity of pollen forms in these series is determined by their geometry and does not depend on affinity, homology, or functionality. The natural system of pollen forms is due not to the structure of supposed affinity of supposed taxa, but the structure of the observed parallelisms of the variability of individual living bodies. Evolutionary novelty (the current state, the observed variability) arises initially ordered in a preestablished form.
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This work was performed on the equipment of the Center for Shared Use Cellular and Molecular Technologies for the Study of Plants and Fungi of the Komarov Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg), as part of the state assignment on the topic “Structural and Functional Bases of Development and Adaptation of Higher Plants” (AAA-A18-118031690084-9).
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APPENDIX А
APPENDIX А
Table A1. Studied samples and brief descriptions of pollen grains of Nierembergia and Bouchetia species
Studied sample | Polar axis, µm | Equatorial diameter, µm | Mesocolpium width, µm | Exine thickness, µm | Sculpture | Distribution unit | Illustrations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nierembergia angustifolia Kunth. Mexico. State of Michoacan. C.G. Pringle 414. 21.07.1892 | 37.6–45.9 41.8 ± 4.1 | 51.7–54.6 53.2 ± 1.4 | 38.0–40.2 39.1 ± 2.3 | 1.9–2.1 2.0 ± 3.1 | The sculpture is striated, the striae are short (3.5–5.0 µm), rather wide (0.5–0.6 µm), with rounded ends, tightly adjacent to each other; occasionally, there are short narrow bridges between the jets | Tetrad | |
N. aristata D. Don. Uruguay. P. Lorentz 10.1878 | 45.7–50.8 48.3 ± 3.4 | 48.5–51.8 50.2 ± 2.3 | 37.9–39.6 39.7 ± 1.8 | 2.5–2.7 2.6 ± 0.3 | The sculpture is striated, the striae are long, not wide (0.5–0.6 µm), closely adjacent to each other; with transverse bridges and rare single rounded perforations | Monad | |
N. frutescens Dur. Schvapp. s. n. 30.8.01 | 42.0–50.0 46.0 ± 3.6 | 45.2–49.7 47.5 ± 4.8 | 33.3–36.6 35.0 ± 2.3 | 2.1–2.3 2.2 ± 1.2 | The sculpture is striated, the striae are meridional, long, not wide (0.3–0.5 µm), tightly adjacent to each other | Monad | Figs. 2а–2f |
N. gracilis Hook. Argentina, Tucuman. C.A. O’Donell. 1392. Oct. 1941 | 46.5–53.9 50.2 ± 2.1 | 46.2–50.0 48.1 ± 4.1 | 36.5–38.6 37.6 ± 2.6 | 2.0–2.2 2.1 ± 3.4 | The sculpture is striated, the striae are not wide with bridges, quite tightly adjacent to each other | Monad | Figs. 1а–1f |
N. hippomanica Miers. Argentina, Tucuman. O’Donell 138. 10.1941 | 44.5–50.0 47.3 ± 3.7 | 44.5–54.5 49.5 ± 1.8 | 39.0–40.0 39.5 ± 1.6 | 2.7–3.0 2.9 ± 1.8 | The sculpture is striated, the striae are rather long, not wide (0.3–0.5 µm), tightly adjacent to each other, bifurcating at the ends | Monad | |
N. linarifolia R. Graham. Herder 12961. 3.09.1892 | 40.0–46.0 43.0 ± 3.8 | 46.0–55.0 50.0 ± 2.3 | 40.0–42.8 41.4 ± 1.6 | 2.0 | The sculpture is striated, the striae are rather long, not wide (0.3–0.5 µm), closely adjacent to each other | Monad | |
N. scoparia Sendtn. Brasilia. Sellow. s.n. | 43.6–49.2 46.4 ± 3.8 | 50.0–56.3 53.2 ± 1.3 | 35.8–43.0 49.4 ± 2.8 | 2.0 | The sculpture is striated, the striae are quite long, wide (0.5–1.0 µm), tightly adjacent to each other | Monad | 3k, 3l |
N. stricta Miers. Argentina, Varela 559. 16. 02.1944 | 55.8–58.4 57.1 ± 2.4 | 63.1–72.7 67.9 ± 4.8 | 49.5–50.3 49.9 ± 0.8 | 2.0–2.3 2.2 ± 2.3 | The sculpture is striated, the striae are not long, rather wide (about 1 µm), with rounded ends, some streams have short branches at the ends | Tetrad | |
Bouchetia anomala Britton & Rusby. Flora Texana exsiccate. F. Lindheimer 471. 1846 | 45.2–47.9 46.6 ± 1.8 | 39.5–42.7 41.1 ± 2.7 | 21.1–23.1 22.1 ± 1.9 | 1.8–1.9 | The sculpture is tuberculate-granular, the tubercles (0.23–1.5 µm) are dotted with small granules (about 0.1 µm) | Tetrad | |
B. erecta DC. ex Dun. Mexica, Hidalgo 6912. 23 July 1898 | 45.2–47.9 46.6 ± 3.3 | 45.2–47.9 46.6 ± 3.6 | 21.1–23.1 22.1 ± 2.7 | 1.8–1.9 | The sculpture is coarsely tuberculate and perforated; the tubercles (1.5–5.0 µm) are located at a distance of 1.0–2.5 µm; between them, there are smaller tubercles (less than 1.0 µm); between small tubercles, there are perforations (0.1–0.3 µm) | Tetrad |
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Pozhidaev, A.E., Grigoryeva, V.V. & Semyonov, A.N. The Pattern of Natural Variability of Palynomorphological Features by the Example of Some Nierembergia and Bouchetia Species (Solanaceae) and Natural System of Biovariety. Biol Bull Rev 14, 304–319 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079086424030083
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079086424030083