Severely reduced sexual reproduction in northern populations of a clonal plant, Decodonverticillatus (Lythraceae)

Abstract

Summary In flowering plants the balance between sexual and clonal, asexual reproduction can vary widely. We quantified variation in sexual reproduction in a tristylous, clonal, aquatic plant, Decodon verticillatus, and investigated the role of ecological and genetic factors in causing this variation. We surveyed components of sexual fertility and vegetative growth in 28 populations distributed along a 500‐km latitudinal transect in New England, USA. Northerly populations tend to be monomorphic (M) for style length, and probably therefore have reduced sexual reproduction compared with southerly, trimorphic (T) populations. Compared with T populations (n = 10), M populations (n = 18) exhibited large reductions for all components of sexual reproduction, including flower production, pollen deposition, pollen tube growth, fertilization, fruit set and seeds per fruit. Seven M populations produced no seed at all, and the other 11 very little (mean = 24 vs. 1139 seeds per plant in trimorphic populations). Clonal propagation was also greatly reduced in M populations. A survey of three polymorphic allozyme loci detected only single, usually heterozygous, genotypes in 15 M populations, whereas all T populations were genotypically diverse. The other three M populations contained three or fewer genotypes and one always predominated. Sexual recruitment is therefore extremely rare. Comparison of the sexual fertility of M and T populations in a concurrent common glasshouse experiment with our field data revealed that reduced sexual performance in northern M populations is principally due to genetic factors, but is also caused by ecological factors that covary with latitude. This abrupt shift away from sexual reproduction in populations at the northern periphery of the geographical range in D. verticillatus may greatly limit their evolutionary potential and restrict further northward expansion.