Abstract
To determine whether inbreeding depression accounts for the maintenance of outcrossing in populations of the self-compatible orchidEncyclia cochleata, the estimated selective advantage of selfing was compared to a measure of inbreeding depression. Individuals from three populations ofE. cochleata and some of their progeny were phenotyped using isozyme analysis. The electrophoretic data were used to estimate the outcrossing rate and the theoretical cost of outcrossing. Inbreeding depression was estimated by comparing the fitness of the progeny resulting from both types of pollinations. The seeds from outcrossed and selfed hand-pollinations and naturally pollinated seeds from a population of the triandrous form ofE. cochleata were grown aseptically on culture media, and their development over the next three years recorded. Inbreeding was common, particularly in one population (outcrossing rate 40%). However, the level of inbreeding depression was only 1–2%, considerably less inbreeding depression than expected.
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Ortiz-Barney, E., Ackerman, J.D. The cost of selfing inEncyclia cochleata (Orchidaceae). Pl Syst Evol 219, 55–64 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01090299
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01090299