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Size Matters: Understanding the Conflict Faced by Large Flowers in Mediterranean Environments

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Abstract

Flower size is a key trait in the reproductive ecology of animal-pollinated plants. However, pollinator-mediated selection does not always modulate this trait and environmental conditions and/or antagonist interactions may favor smaller flowers. We evaluate the occurrence of a large-flowered family in a hot and dry Mediterranean environment, mediated by a cost-benefit balance and a male–female conflict. Large flowers have sizeable benefits in terms of pollination and reproductive success and pollinators mediate selection through male function, but female fitness is context-dependent. High floral production and maintenance costs and florivore incidence in large flowers limit female function, which counteracts pollinator-mediated selection. Large flowers are highly costly in the Mediterranean and flower size is mediated by a sexual conflict between the benefits of male function and the costs of the female one. However, a short floral longevity, occasional pollen limitation and selection through maleness keep the existence of large flowers in these environments.

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Acknowledgments

We thank A. Escudero, J.M. Iriondo, J. Arroyo, P. García-Fayos, A. Sánchez, A. Traveset, S. Karrenberg, J. Ågren, N. Sletvold, A.L. Parachnowitsch, C.M. Caruso, J. Herrera, J. Ollerton, J.F. Scheepens, J. Těšitel and M.A. Rodríguez-Gironés for the comments provided during the first versions of the manuscript. We are also grateful to Y. Valiñani and E. Galisteo for lab assistance and to J.P. González-Varo, J. Güemes, E. Carrió, E. Triano and R. Torices for collecting flower buds for analyses of floral production costs. J. Herrera kindly provided some data of flower size for several Mediterranean species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, E-486, 30161-970, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Alberto L. Teixido

  2. Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049, Madrid, Spain

    Miguel Barrio

  3. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, MNCN-CSIC, Serrano 115 dpdo, E-28006, Madrid, Spain

    Fernando Valladares

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  1. Alberto L. Teixido
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  2. Miguel Barrio
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Correspondence to Alberto L. Teixido.

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Teixido, A.L., Barrio, M. & Valladares, F. Size Matters: Understanding the Conflict Faced by Large Flowers in Mediterranean Environments. Bot. Rev. 82, 204–228 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-016-9168-8

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