Abstract
The targets and causes of phenotypic selection are crucial to understanding evolutionary ecology. However, few studies have examined selection quantitatively from multiple sources on the same trait identified the agent of natural selection experimentally. Here we quantified phenotypic selection on traits, including flowering phenology and aspects of floral display via female fitness, in the distylous perennial herb Primula alpicola. To determine the role of pollinators in generating selection effects on floral traits, we compared the phenotypic selection gradients in open-pollinated and hand-pollinated plants. Our results show that pollinator-mediated linear selection on flowering start and correlational selection on the number of flowers and scape height explains most of the net phenotypic selection on these traits suggesting pollinators played an important role in shaping floral diversity. We used path analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine how herbivores affected the relationship between floral traits and female fitness, but no significant selection was caused by seed predators. These results suggest pollinators, not herbivores maybe the significant agent of selection on flora traits.
Highlights
The targets and causes of phenotypic selection are crucial to understanding evolutionary ecology
There were no significant differences between open- and hand-pollinated treatments in flowering phenology, traits contributing to the floral display, and the proportion of damaged flowers and fruits (Table 1)
This study demonstrates that the pollinators contribute to selection via female fitness on flowering phenology and floral display in the inter-morph pollination distylous perennial herb P. alpicola
Summary
The targets and causes of phenotypic selection are crucial to understanding evolutionary ecology. We quantified phenotypic selection on traits, including flowering phenology and aspects of floral display via female fitness, in the distylous perennial herb Primula alpicola. We used path analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine how herbivores affected the relationship between floral traits and female fitness, but no significant selection was caused by seed predators. Pollinators and herbivores are traditionally assumed to be the main selective agents[4,5,6,7] and major biological force shaping floral functions such as floral display, morphology and flowering time[8,9]. Agent of natural selection experimentally could help improve our understanding relative importance of mutualists and antagonists in shaping the plant trait evolution. We attempt to answer the following questions: (1) Whether are the floral traits in P. alpicola under phenotypic selection in natural population? (2) What are the target traits under selection? (3) Can this selection on floral traits be attributed to the pollinators, the predators, or both?
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