Greater number of pollen donors improves female reproductive success but not progeny vigour in Allium stellatum

Plant-pollinator interactions affect the quantity and identity of pollen delivered to stigmas, influencing plant genetics and fitness. Here, we test the pollen competition hypothesis, which predicts that competition among pollen grains yields higher-quality offspring, by hand-pollinating Allium stellatum with pollen from one, two, or three donors while controlling pollen load size. We germinated seeds and assessed seed and seedling traits using generalised linear mixed-effects models. We found that flowers that received pollen loads with a greater number of donors had slower growing seedlings but also had a greater proportion of seeds that successfully germinated. These results provide mixed support for the pollen competition hypothesis, in that greater donor diversity leads to higher female reproductive success, but with a possible trade-off in progeny vigour. Pollen donor diversity thus affects reproductive outcomes and should be considered when examining how pollinators influence plant population dynamics.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Journal of Pollination Ecology

• Publication date

  2025-11-07

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.26786/1920-7603(2025)847
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Tropical deforestation reduces plant mating quality by shifting the functional composition of pollinator communities

  2021cited by this paper
• Evolutionary Genomics of Plant Gametophytic Selection

  2020cited by this paper
• High expression in maize pollen correlates with genetic contributions to pollen fitness as well as with coordinated transcription from neighboring transposable elements

  2020cited by this paper
• Comparative floral ecology and breeding systems between sympatric populations of Nothoscordum bivalve and Allium stellatum (Amaryllidaceae)

  2020cited by this paper
• Direct detection of male quality can facilitate the evolution of female choosiness and indicators of good genes: Evolution across a continuum of indicator mechanisms

  2018cited by this paper
• Plant–pollinator interactions along the pathway to paternity

  2018cited by this paper
• Pollinator identity and spatial isolation influence multiple paternity in an annual plant

  2017cited by this paper
• Exocyst, exosomes, and autophagy in the regulation of Brassicaceae pollen-stigma interactions.

  2017cited by this paper
• Novel Consequences of Bird Pollination for Plant Mating.

  2017cited by this paper
• Pollen competition in style: Effects of pollen size on siring success in the hermaphroditic common morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea.

  2016cited by this paper
• The Pollen Coat Proteome: At the Cutting Edge of Plant Reproduction

  2016cited by this paper
• The incidence and selection of multiple mating in plants

  2013cited by this paper
• Mating patterns and pollinator mobility are critical traits in forest fragmentation genetics

  2013cited by this paper
• META‐ANALYSIS SUGGESTS CHOOSY FEMALES GET SEXY SONS MORE THAN “GOOD GENES”

  2012cited by this paper
• REVIEW: PART OF A SPECIAL ISSUE ON SEXUAL PLANT REPRODUCTION Pollen tube growth and guidance: roles of small, secreted proteins

  2011cited by this paper
• How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals

  2011cited by this paper
• Effects of Pollen Load and Donor Diversity on Seed and Fruit Mass in the Columnar Cactus, Pachycereus schottii (Cactaceae)

  2009cited by this paper
• Class B β-expansins are needed for pollen separation and stigma penetration

  2009cited by this paper
• Expanding the limits of the pollen-limitation concept: effects of pollen quantity and quality.

  2007cited by this paper
• Pollen Limitation of Plant Reproduction: Pattern and Process

  2005cited by this paper
• Pollen limitation of plant reproduction: Ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences

  2004cited by this paper
• Comparative Analysis of the Arabidopsis Pollen Transcriptome1[w]

  2003cited by this paper
• Seed paternity in flowering plants: an evolutionary perspective

  2003cited by this paper
• Effects of population size and pollen diversity on reproductive success and offspring size in the narrow endemic Cochlearia bavarica (Brassicaceae).

  2002cited by this paper
• The costs of reproduction in plants.

  2002cited by this paper
• The molecular and genetic basis of pollen-pistil interactions.

  2001cited by this paper
• Factors Affecting Inter- and Intra-specific Pollen Rejection in Nicotiana

  2000cited by this paper
• A pollen tube growth-promoting arabinogalactan protein from nicotiana alata is similar to the tobacco TTS protein.

  2000cited by this paper
• The Effect of Population Size on Stigma Pollen Load, Fruit Set, and Seed Set in Allium stellatum Ker. (Liliaceae)

  1999cited by this paper
• The effects of pollen load size and donor diversity on pollen performance, selective abortion, and progeny vigor in Mirabilis jalapa.

  1999cited by this paper
• Seed/cotyledon size and nutrient content play a major role in early performance of species on nutrient‐poor soils

  1997cited by this paper
• A style-specific 120-kDa glycoprotein enters pollen tubes ofNicotiana alata in vivo

  1996cited by this paper
• Effects of pollen competition on the reproductive performance in cucurbit hybrids (Cucurbitaceae): F1 and backcross generations

  1996cited by this paper
• Pollen competition and sporophyte fitness in Brassica campestris: does intense pollen competition result in individuals with better pollen?

  1994cited by this paper
• Proximate Limits to Seed Production in a Herbaceous Perennial Legume, Lathyrus Vernus

  1992cited by this paper
• EFFECTS OF PARENTAGE AND SIZE OF THE POLLEN LOAD ON PROGENY PERFORMANCE IN CAMPANULA AMERICANA

  1992cited by this paper
• RELATIVE SUCCESS OF SELF AND OUTCROSS POLLEN COMPARING MIXED‐ AND SINGLE‐DONOR POLLINATIONS IN AQUILEGIA CAERULEA

  1992cited by this paper
• The Allometry of Seed Production in Herbaceous Angiosperms

  1992cited by this paper
• Evolutionary Interpretations of Differences in Pollen Tube Growth Rates

  1992cited by this paper
• EFFECTS OF POLLINATION INTENSITY IN CAMPSIS RADICANS.

  1990cited by this paper
• Effects of Pollen-Load Size and Number of Donors on Sporophyte Fitness in Wild Radish (Raphanus raphanistrum)

  1990cited by this paper
• The Relationship between Pollen Load and Fruit Maturation and the Effect of Pollen Load on Offspring Vigor in Cucurbita pepo

  1987cited by this paper
• Patterns of Fruit Maturation: A Gametophyte Competition Hypothesis

  1984cited by this paper
• Multiple Paternity within the Fruits of the Wild Radish, Raphanus sativus

  1984cited by this paper
• Flower and Fruit Abortion: Proximate Causes and Ultimate Functions

  1981cited by this paper
• The Rise of the Angiosperms: A Genecological Factor

  1979cited by this paper
• A Note on Optimal Mate Selection by Plants

  1977cited by this paper
• The Optimal Balance between Size and Number of Offspring

  1974cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.