Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The influence of seed dispersal mechanisms on the genetic structure of plant populations

  • Chapter
Frugivores and seed dispersal

Part of the book series: Tasks for vegetation science ((TAVS,volume 15))

Abstract

The plant electrophoretic literature was reviewed to determine whether seed dispersal mechanisms effectively predict the distribution of genetic variation within and among plant populations. To consider the relationship between seed dispersal and genetic differentiation on a local scale, nine species of tropical trees from the same lowland forest community in Panama were examined electrophoretically. In both cases, the association between seed dispersal and the distribution of genetic variation was not as significant as expected. To better understand the processes underlying the development of genetic structure within plant populations, the genetic consequences of two generalized patterns of seed dispersal were explored. In the Platypodium model, seeds were wind disseminated and leptokurtically distributed, while the Piper model had the highly clumped dispersal pattern characteristic of many species with animalingested seeds. Variable breeding structures and the selective mortality of seeds and seedlings were also incorporated, since these factors can have important effects on population structure. The problem of obtaining quantitative estimates of these evolutionary parameters from natural populations is discussed. An analytical procedure (paternity exclusion analysis) is suggested which could be instrumental in elucidating those mechanisms which interact to produce genetic structure in natural plant populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 259.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Literature cited

  • Antonovics, J. 1968. Evolution in closely adjacent plant populations. VI. Manifold effects of gene flow. Heredity 23: 507–524.

    Google Scholar 

  • Augspurger, C.K. 1982. Offspring recruitment around tropical trees: changes in cohort distance with time. Oikos 40: 189–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Augspurger, C.K. 1983. Seed dispersal of the tropical tree, Platypodium elegans, and the escape of its seedlings from fungal pathogens. J. Ecol. 71: 759–772.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Augspurger, C.K. 1984. Seedling survival of tropical tree species; interactions of dispersal distance, light-gaps and pathogens. Ecology 65: 1705–1712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, H.G., K.S. Bawa, G.W. Frankie and P.A. Opler. 1983. Reproductive biology of plants in tropical forests. pp. 183–215, In: F.B. Golley (ed.), Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystems: Structure and Function. Elsevier, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beattie, A.J. and D.C. Culver. 1979. Neighborhood size in Viola. Evolution 33: 1226–1229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beer, T. and M.D. Swaine. 1977. On the theory of explosively dispersed seeds. New Phytol. 78: 681–694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, A.H.D. 1979. Enzyme polymorphism in plant populations. Theor. Pop. Biol. 15: 1–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bullock, S.H. and R.B. Primack. 1977. Comparative experimental study of seed dispersal on animals. Ecology 58: 681–686.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burrows, F.M. 1975a. Calculations of the primary trajectories of dust seeds, spores and pollen in unsteady winds. New Phytol. 75: 389–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burrows, F.M. 1975b. Wind-borne seed and fruit movement. New Phytol. 75: 405–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheliak, W.M. 1985. Mating system dynamics in a Scots pine seed Orchard, pp 107–117. In: Gregorius, H.-R. (ed). Lecture Notes in Biomathematics 60. Population Genetics in Forestry. Springer-Verlag. Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Croat, T.B. 1978. Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darley-Hill, S. and W.C. Johnson. 1981. Acorn dispersal by the blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata). Oecologia 50: 231–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellstrand, N.C. 1984. Multiple paternity within fruits of the wild radish, Rhaphanus sativus. Am. Natur. 123: 819–828.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ennos, R.A. and M.T. Clegg. 1982. Effect of population substructuring on estimates of outcrossing rate in plant populations. Heredity 48: 283–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, T.H. 1981. Fecundity, fruiting pattern, and seed dispersal in Piper amalago (Piperaceae), a bat-dispersed tropical shrub. Oecologia 51: 42–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, T.H. 1983. Piper (Candela, Candelillos, Piper). pp. 303–304 In: D.H. Janzen (ed.), Costa Rican Natural History. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, T.H. 1985. A day in the life of a Piper-eating bat. Natur. Hist. 94: 52–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, T.H. and E.R. Heithaus. 1981. Frugivorous bats, seed shadows, and the structure of tropical forests. Biotropica, Supplement to Vol. 13, (Reproductive Botany): 45–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, J. and Z. Stein. 1980. The influence of seed-dispersal mechanism on the dispersion of Anastatica hierochuntica (Cruciferae) in the Negev Desert, Israel. J. Ecol. 68: 43–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb, L.D. 1981. Electrophoretic evidence and plant populations. Prog. Phytochem. 7: 1–46.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Green, D.S. 1980. The terminal velocity and dispersal of spinning samaras. Amer. J. Bot. 67: 1218–1224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamrick, J.L. 1983. The distribution of genetic variation within and among natural plant populations. pp. 335–348, In: Genetics and Conservation, C. Shonewald-Cox, S.M. Chambers, B. McBryde, L. Thomas (eds.). Benjamin-Cummings, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Handel, S.N. 1982. Dynamics of gene flow in an experimental population of Cucumis melo (Curcurbitaceae). Amer. J. Bot. 69: 1538–1546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howe, H.F. and J. Smallwood. 1982. Ecology of seed dispersal. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 13: 201–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janzen, D.H. 1975. Ecology of Plants in the Tropics. Edward Arnold, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen, D.H., G.A. Miller, J. Hackforth-Jones, C.M. Pond, K. Hooper and D.P. Janos. 1976. Two Costa Rican bat-generated seed shadows of Andira inermis (Leguminosae). Ecology 57: 1068–1075.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerster, H.W. and D.A. Levin. 1968. Neighborhood size in Lithospermum caroliniense. Genetics 60: 577–587.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lanner, R.M. and S.B. Van der Wall. 1980. Dispersal of limber pine seed by Clark’s nutcracker. J. For. 78: 637–639.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lertzman, K.P. and C.L. Gass. 1983. Alternative models of pollen transfer. pp. 474–489 In: Handbook of Experimental Pollination Biology, C.E. Jones and R.J. Little (eds.). Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin, D.A. and H.W. Kerster. 1974. Gene flow in seed plants. Evol. Biol. 7: 139–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin, R.C. 1974. The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change. Columbia Univ. Press, N.Y.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loveless, M.D. and J.L. Hamrick. 1984. Ecological determinants of genetic structure in plant populations. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 15: 65–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loveless, M.D. and J.L. Hamrick. 1986. Distribución de la variación genética en especies arbóreas tropicales. Revista de Biologia Tropical, in press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meagher, T.R. 1985. Identification of paternity within natural plant populations. Science (in press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nei, M. 1973. Analysis of gene diversity in subdivided populations. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 70: 3321–3323.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Price, M.V. and N.M. Waser. 1982. Experimental studies of pollen carryover: hummingbirds and Ipomopsis aggregata. Oecologia 54: 353–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaal, B. A. 1980. Measurement of gene flow in Lupinus texensis. Nature 284: 450–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, J. 1980. Pollinator foraging behavior and gene dispersal in Senecio (Compositae). Evolution 34: 934–943.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson, J.D. and R.C. Plowright. 1980. Pollen carryover, nectar rewards, and pollinator behavior with special reference to Diervilla lonicera. Oecologia 46: 68–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M.E., J.C. Stephens and W.W. Anderson. 1982. Homozygosity and patch structure in plant populations as a result of nearest-neighbor pollination. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 79: 203–207.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Watkinson, A. R. 1978. The demography of a sand dune annual: Vulpia fasciculata. Ill. The dispersal of seeds. J. Ecol. 66: 483–498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead, D.R. 1969. Wind pollination in the angiosperms. Evolutionary and environmental considerations. Evolution 23: 28–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, S. 1943. Isolation by distance. Genetics 28: 114–138.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, S. 1951. The genetical structure of populations. Ann. Eugenics 15: 323–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. J. L. Hamrick & M. D. Loveless

    Present address: Departments of Botany and Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Botany and Systematics and Ecology, University of Cansas, USA

    J. L. Hamrick & M. D. Loveless

Authors
  1. J. L. Hamrick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. D. Loveless
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Alejandro Estrada Theodore H. Fleming

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1986 Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hamrick, J.L., Loveless, M.D. (1986). The influence of seed dispersal mechanisms on the genetic structure of plant populations. In: Estrada, A., Fleming, T.H. (eds) Frugivores and seed dispersal. Tasks for vegetation science, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4812-9_20

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4812-9_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8633-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-4812-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation