plant mating systems

Question 1

plants are

Answer 1

immobile, modular

Question 2

Dispersal and gene flow happen via

Answer 2

Pollen dispersal
Seed dispersal
Vegetative parts

dependent on:
wind
water
animals

Question 3

asexual reproduction in plants

Answer 3

Rhizomes, tubers, bulbs – below ground
Stolons– above ground

Question 4

Sexual reproduction in plants

Answer 4

Most plants are hermaphrodites
-> possibility of selfing
bi- or uni sexual flowers on same plant

Dioecious plants – unisexual flowers
on different plants (Uncommon, mostly in wind-pollinated trees)

Question 5

Pros of selfing

Answer 5

Transmission advantage
Reproductive assurance

Question 6

cons of selfing

Answer 6

Inbreeding depression
Reduced genetic variation

Question 7

strategies to promote outcrossing

Answer 7

• Genetic– self-incompatibility loci (SI)
• Temporal- protandy– first-male,
  protogyny– first-females
• Spatial– unisexual flowers, or unisexual individuals
• separation within flowers

Question 8

Reciprocal herkogamy:

Answer 8

Flower dimorphism in style and anther position facilitates insect-mediated cross-pollination
– only between different morphs

Question 9

why can selfing evolve

Answer 9

Low population density
Low/unstable availability of pollinators
Unstable habitats -> Selfing can provide reproductive assurance

Question 10

Baker’s law

Answer 10

Selfing is favoured in colonizing species

Question 11

Selfing is more common in

Answer 11

annuals than in long-lived
perennials

Question 12

Darwin’s orchid Madagascar

Answer 12

Darwin predicted a pollinator with a proboscis length matching the length of the nectar-filled spur

Question 13

deceptive orchids

Answer 13

Visual and olfactory mimicry
cheaters
linked to low population size and high abundance of pollinators

Question 14

Initial mycoheterotroph

Answer 14

Orchid specificity to specific OMF is variable