Abstract
To pursue a proper conservation of narrow endemic species, the knowledge of basic reproductive strategies is crucial to plan adequate conservation activities. One of the most evolutionarily relevant and threatened Italian endemic is the Webb’s hyacinth (Bellevalia webbiana Parl.). As the reproductive behaviour of this species and its connection with human impact are currently unknown, the aim of this study was to characterise the reproductive traits of the Webb’s hyacinth in contrasting habitats. All the 5 known richest populations across the species range were investigated. Their reproductive strategies were inferred by measuring inflorescence height, fruit set, seed set and P/O ratio. Reproductive features varied greatly amongst stands and also in relation to the degree of human disturbance. However, in all cases, seed sets showed low values. P/O values point towards full xenogamy and it is concluded that effective cross-pollination may be the main mode of sexual reproduction in Bellevalia webbiana. The reasons for the low reproductive performances may reside in pollen limitation, Allee effect and/or intrinsic reduced fertility of the species. Given this scenario, conservation efforts for Webb’s hyacinth should focus on maintaining large and relatively dense populations, to guarantee some chance of in situ survival.
Highlights
The Mediterranean basin is a well-known biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al 2000) where, native plant diversity is highly threatened by environmental changes, notably human-induced changes in land use (Lee et al 1995, McKinney 2002, Rossi et al 2013)
To pursue a proper conservation of these species, especially the narrow endemics, the knowledge of basic reproductive strategies is crucial in planning adequate conservation activities (Rossi et al 2016)
As witnessed by IUCN categories (IUCN 2017), persistence of plant populations is intimately connected to generation time, so that life history studies usually feature an integrated approach uniting demography, reproductive biology and genetics in order to assess the persistence of plant populations in ecosystems (Ohara et al 2006)
Summary
The Mediterranean basin is a well-known biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al 2000) where, native plant diversity is highly threatened by environmental changes, notably human-induced changes in land use (Lee et al 1995, McKinney 2002, Rossi et al 2013). In many narrow endemics, the paucity of available material (e.g. low number of individuals and flowers, inaccessible sites etc.) does not allow proper insight into reproductive performances, which require extensive field works in order to take into account all the possible environmental and biological factors. Due to this impediment, the knowledge of the breeding system of threatened species is at least the first step for understanding to which threats they can most be subjected (e.g. habitat fragmentation, pollen limitation, Allee effect etc.)
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