title: A comparison of floral integration between selfing and outcrossing species: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Floral integration is thought to be an adaptation to promote cross-fertilization, and it is often assumed that it increases morphological matching between flowers and pollinators, increasing the efficiency of pollen transfer. However, the evidence for this role of floral integration is limited, and recent studies have suggested a possible positive association between floral integration and selfing. Although a number of explanations exist to account for this inconsistency, to date there has been no attempt to examine the existence of an association between floral integration and mating system. This study hypothesized that if pollinator-mediated pollen movement among plants (outcrossing) is the main factor promoting floral integration, species with a predominantly outcrossing mating system should present higher levels of floral integration than those with a predominantly selfing mating system.
  
  
  METHODS
  A phylogenetically informed meta-analysis of published data was performed in order to evaluate whether mating system (outcrossing vs. selfing) accounts for the variation in floral integration among 64 species of flowering plants. Morphometric floral information was used to compare intra-floral integration among traits describing sexual organs (androecium and gynoecium) and those corresponding to the perianth (calix and corolla).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analysis showed that outcrossing species have lower floral integration than selfing species. This pattern was caused by significantly higher integration of sexual traits than perianth traits, as integration of the latter group remained unchanged across mating categories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that the evolution of selfing is associated with concomitant changes in intra-floral integration. Thus, floral integration of sexual traits should be considered as a critical component of the selfing syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-275, Ciudad Universitaria 04510, México Distrito Federal, México and.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fornoni
authors.affiliation: Fundación Miguel Lillo, Miguel Lillo 251, San Miguel de Tucumán T4000JFE, Tucumán, Argentina, and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina.
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ordano
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-275, Ciudad Universitaria 04510, México Distrito Federal, México and.
authors.forename: Rubén
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pérez-Ishiwara
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-275, Ciudad Universitaria 04510, México Distrito Federal, México and.
authors.forename: Karina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boege
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 70-275, Ciudad Universitaria 04510, México Distrito Federal, México and tejada@unam.mx.
authors.forename: César A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Domínguez
mesh_terms: D035264:Flowers / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D011058:Pollen; D054817:Pollination / Q000502:physiology*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D057945:Self-Fertilization / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Floral evolution; intra-floral integration; phenotypic integration; plant mating system; selfing syndrome