INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF POLLINATION AND HEAVY METALS ON RESOURCE ALLOCATION INPOTENTILLA ANSERINAL.

Abstract

We studied resource allocation between sexual reproduction and clonal propagation in a perennial stoloniferous clonal plant, Potentilla anserina, an obligate outcrosser. We manipulated reproductive effort of Potentilla anserina either by hand-pollinating all flowers or by preventing pollination. To test the effect of resource-limiting conditions on resource allocation and reproductive output, we used a control and two levels of heavy metals (copper and nickel) to limit plant growth. The experiment was conducted as a 2 × 3 factorial design to reveal possible interactions between reproductive manipulation and resource limitation. Heavy metals decreased the total biomass of the plants and number of flowers and ramets produced. Only 50% of the plants grown with the higher level of heavy metals produced flowers. Pollination treatment interacted significantly with the heavy-metal treatment. In the metal control (no metals added) and lower heavy-metal treatment, there were no significant differences in total vegetative biomass between the two pollination treatments. Costs of reproduction in terms of subsequent flowering in the later season appeared to be clear, because the number of flowers per whole plant was lower if the plants were hand-pollinated and because the proportion of flowering ramets decreased due to hand-pollination. However, flowering may also be partly hormonally controlled. In contrast, hand-pollinated plants exposed to high concentrations of heavy metals tended to have greater biomass of vegetative plant structures and higher number of flowers compared to nonpollinated plants. Together, these results suggest that environmental factors may alter costs of reproduction but do not support the idea that these costs are more acute in resource (photosynthate)-limiting conditions.