Trade-offs between sexual and clonal reproduction in an aquatic plant: experimental manipulations vs. phenotypic correlations

• Published in: Journal of Evolutionary Biology
• Main Authors: Thompson, F. L., Eckert, C. G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2004
• Subjects: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Butomus umbellatus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2004.00701.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1420-9101.2004.00701.x; https://academic.oup.com/jeb/article-pdf/17/3/581/54434448/j.1420-9101.2004.00701.x.pdf

Abstract That trade-offs result from the allocation of limited resources is a central concept of life history evolution. We quantified trade-offs between sexual and clonal reproduction in the aquatic plant, Butomus umbellatus, by experimentally manipulating sexual investment in two distinct nutrient environments. Increasing seed production caused a significant but nonlinear trade-off. Pollinating half of all flowers strongly reduced clonal bulbil production, but pollinating the remaining flowers did not cause any further trade-off. Trade-offs were not stronger under low nutrient conditions that clearly limited plant growth. Experimentally induced trade-offs were not reflected in negative phenotypic correlations between sexual and clonal allocation among plants within eight populations grown in a uniform greenhouse environment. Diminishing effects of increased sexual allocation plus a lack of accord between experimental manipulations and phenotypic correlations suggest that trade-offs between sexual and clonal reproduction are unlikely to constrain the evolution of reproductive strategy in this species.