ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 2284
Session = 15.11.3


EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE SELECTIVE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF SELF-FERTILIZATION


Christopher G. Eckert, Queen's University


The evolution of self-fertilization is a central problem in plant evolutionary biology, in part, because an extensive body of theory has suggested that the evolution of selfing is determined by a small number of selective forces. Most of these selective factors can be measured using experimental manipulations of flowers in conjunction with marker-gene analysis of mating patterns and population genetic structure. I will present results from experiments involving two species which strongly suggest that the selective value of selfing is determined by an interplay between genetic factors such as gene transmission and inbreeding depression as well as aspects of floral biology and pollination ecology that determine how selfing occurs. Complex interactions between selective pressures may be responsible for the diversity of mating systems observed in flowering plants.


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