Abstract
Pollinator movements and pollen-mediated gene dispersal were quantified in experimental populations of square-stemmed monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens), a wetland perennial herb with a mixed-mating system. Each population consisted of genets with unique multilocus combinations of homozygous genotypes, facilitating assignment of paternity to all sampled seeds. Replicate arrays were planted at each of three spacings spanning the range of densities typically observed in natural M. ringens populations. In all six arrays the distribution of gene dispersal distances differed significantly from the distribution of pollinator flight movements. The mean gene dispersal distance was 1.46 times as far as the mean pollinator flight distance. These differences were probably caused by pollen carryover as bumblebees visited up to 12 M. ringens plants on a single foraging trip. Although gene movements exceeded pollinator flight distances, estimates of neighbourhood size were consistently low, ranging from 1.66 to 5.53. Therefore, high levels of random local genetic differentiation are likely in this species.
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