title: Mating patterns and pollinator mobility are critical traits in forest fragmentation genetics.
abstract: Most woody plants are animal-pollinated, but the global problem of habitat fragmentation is changing the pollination dynamics. Consequently, the genetic diversity and fitness of the progeny of animal-pollinated woody plants sired in fragmented landscapes tend to decline due to shifts in plant-mating patterns (for example, reduced outcrossing rate, pollen diversity). However, the magnitude of this mating-pattern shift should theoretically be a function of pollinator mobility. We first test this hypothesis by exploring the mating patterns of three ecologically divergent eucalypts sampled across a habitat fragmentation gradient in southern Australia. We demonstrate increased selfing and decreased pollen diversity with increased fragmentation for two small-insect-pollinated eucalypts, but no such relationship for the mobile-bird-pollinated eucalypt. In a meta-analysis, we then show that fragmentation generally does increase selfing rates and decrease pollen diversity, and that more mobile pollinators tended to dampen these mating-pattern shifts. Together, our findings support the premise that variation in pollinator form contributes to the diversity of mating-pattern responses to habitat fragmentation.
authors.affiliation: 1] Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity (ACEBB), School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, South Australia, Australia [2] Department of Plant Ecology and Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Breed
authors.affiliation: 1] Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity (ACEBB), School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, South Australia, Australia [2] Division of Science, Department of Environment and Conservation, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ottewell
authors.affiliation: 1] Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity (ACEBB), School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, South Australia, Australia [2] School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: 1] Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity (ACEBB), School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, South Australia, Australia [2] Department of Limnology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: M H K
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Marklund
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity (ACEBB), School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Dormontt
authors.affiliation: 1] Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity (ACEBB), School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, South Australia, Australia [2] Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, Science Resource Centre, State Herbarium of South Australia, North Terrace, Australia.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lowe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D005052:Eucalyptus / Q000235:genetics*; D065928:Forests; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D007178:Inbreeding; D007313:Insecta; D054817:Pollination; D011156:Population Density; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics; D013021:South Australia