Abstract: Laboratoty germination percentages were relatively low in small populations of royal catchfly (Silene regia), a perennial prairie plant whose distribution has been severely reduced by habitat fragmentation. Populations with more than 150 individuals bad uniformly high (>85%) germination, whereas smaller populations had great variation within and between populations. Germination percentage was related to the natural log of population size (r = .49, p = .017); in small populations the relationship was linear (r = .37, p = .156). Germination success was unrelated to population isolation. The overall dependence of germination percentage on population size has at least two possible explanations: (I) inbreeding depression in recently reduced populations, manifesting itself in lower fitness of seeds; or (2) increased proportion of inferior geitonogamously produced seed caused by reduced hummingbird visitation and reduced interplant movements in small populations.

Abstract

Resumen: Los porcentajes de germinación en el laboratorio fueron relativamente bajos en las pequeñas poblaciones de Silene regia, una planta de pradera perenne cuya distribución ha sido severamente reducida por la fragmentación del hábitat. Las poblaciones con más de 150 individuos tuvieron una germinación uniformememente alta (>85%) mientras que las poblaciones más pequeñas tuvieron gran variación dentro y entre las poblaciones. El porcentaje de germinaciones estaba relacionado con el logaritmo natural del tamaño de la población (r = .49, p = .017); en las poblaciones pequeñas la relación fue linear. (r = .37, p = .156). El éxito de la germinacion no estuvo relaciondado con el aislamiento de la poblacion. La total dependencia del porcentaje de la germinación en el tamaño de la población tiene cuando menos dos posibles explicaciones:(1) depresión por el entrecruzamiento consanguineo en poblaciones recientemente reducidas, manifestándose como disminución en la viabilidad de las semillas; o (2) el aumento en la proporción de semillas inseriores producidas por polinización dentro de la misma planta causada por la reduceón de visitas de colibries y los reducidos movimientos entreplanta y planta en las poblaciones pequeñas.

References

Axelrod, D. I. 1985. Rise of the grassland biome, North America. Botanical Review 51: 163–201.
10.1007/BF02861083
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Beardmore, J. A. 1983. Extinction, survival, and genetic variation. Pages in C. M. Schoenwald-Cox, S. M. Chambers, B. MacBryde, and L. Thomas, ed. Genetics and conservation. Benjamin/Cummings, Menlo Park , California . 722 pp.
Google Scholar
Berger, J. 1990. Persistence of different-sized populations: an empirical assessment of rapid extinction in bighorn sheep. Conservation Biology 4: 91–98.
10.1111/j.1523-1739.1990.tb00271.x
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Brussard, P. F. 1984. Geographic patterns and environmental gradients: the central-marginal model in Drosophila revisited. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 15: 25–64.
10.1146/annurev.es.15.110184.000325
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Bryant, E.H. S. A. McCommas, and L. M. Combs. 1986. The effect of experimental bottleneck upon quantitative genetic variation in the housefly. Genetics 114: 1191.
CASPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar
R. L. Burgess, and D. M. Shape, ed. 1981. Forest dynamics in man-dominated landscapes. Springer-Verlag, New York . 309 PP.
Google Scholar
Crawford, D.J., R. Omduff, and M. C. Vasey. 1985. Allozyme variation within and between Lastbenia minor and its derivative species L. maritima (Asteraceae). American Journal of Botany 72: 1177–1184.
10.1002/j.1537-2197.1985.tb08370.x
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Curtis, J. T. 1956. The modifications of mid-latitude grasslands and forests by man. Pages 2721–2736 in W. L. Thomas, ed. Man's role in changing the face of the Earth. Volume 2. University of Chicago Press, Chicago , Illinois . 1159 pp.
Google Scholar
Cwynar, L. C., and G. M. MacDonald. 1987. Geographic variation of lodgepole pine in relation to population history. American Naturalist 129: 463–469.
10.1086/284651
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. 1970. Genetics of the evolutionary process. Columbia University Press, New York . 505 pp.
Google Scholar
Farmer, J. M., S. C. Price, and C. R. Bell. 1986. Population, temperature, and substrate influences on common milkweed (As-clepias syriaca) seed germination. Weed Science 34: 525–528.
10.1017/S0043174500067369
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Frankel, O. H., and M. E. Soulé. 1981. Conservation and evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge , England .
Google Scholar
Furnier, G. R., and W. T. Adams. 1986. Geographic patterns of allozyme variation in Jeffrey pine. American Journal of Botany 73: 1009–1015.
10.1002/j.1537-2197.1986.tb08545.x
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Gilpin, M. E., and M. E. Soulé. 1986. Minimum viable populations and processes of species extinctions. Pages 19–34 in M. E. Soulé, ed. Conservation biology: the science of scarcity and diversity. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland , Massachusetts .
Google Scholar
Gleason, H. A. 1923. The vegetational history of the Middle West. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 12: 39–85.
10.1080/00045602209356938
Google Scholar
Gottlieb, L. D. 1973. Genetic differentiation, sympatric speciation, and the origin of a diploid species of Stephanomeria. American Journal of Botany 60: 545–553.
10.1002/j.1537-2197.1973.tb05956.x
CASWeb of Science®Google Scholar
Grimm, E. C. 1983. Chronology and dynamics of vegetation change in the prairie-woodland region of southern Minnesota, U.S.A. New Phytologist 93: 344–350.
10.1111/j.1469-8137.1983.tb03434.x
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Hamrick, J. L., Y. B. Linhart, and J. B. Milton. 1970. Relationships between life history characteristics and electrophoretically detectable genetic variation in plants. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 10: 173–200.
Google Scholar
L. D. Harris, ed. 1984. The fragmented forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago , Illinois . 211 pp.
Google Scholar
Jennersten, O. 1988. Pollination inDianthusdeltoides (Caryophyllaceae): effects of habitat fragmentation on visitation and seed set. Conservation Biology 2: 359–366.
10.1111/j.1523-1739.1988.tb00200.x
Google Scholar
Karron, J. D. 1987. A comparison of levels of genetic polymorphism and self-compatibility in geographically restricted and widespread plant congeners. Evolutionary Ecology 1: 47–58.
10.1007/BF02067268
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Karron, J. D. 1989. Breeding systems and levels of inbreeding depression in geographically restricted and widespread species of Astragalus (Fabaceae). American Journal of Botany 76: 331–340.
10.1002/j.1537-2197.1989.tb11319.x
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Ketzner, D. M., E. F. Ulaszek, and L. R. Iverson. 1989. The status and ecology of Silene regia Sims, the royal catchfly, in Illinois. Unpublished report to Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board. 70 pp.
Google Scholar
King, C. C. 1981. Distribution of royal catchfly (Silene regia) with special reference to Ohio populations. Pages 131–141 in R. L. Stuckey and K. J. Reese, ed. The prairie peninsula-in the “shadow” of Transeau: proceedings of the Sixth North American Prairie Conference. Ohio Biological Survey Biolog ical Notes 15. 278 pp.
Google Scholar
Kruckeberg, A. R., and D. Rabinowitz. 1985. Biological aspects of endemism in higher plants. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 16: 447–479.
10.1146/annurev.es.16.110185.002311
Google Scholar
Lande, R. 1980. Genetic variation and phenotypic evolution during allopatric speciation. American Naturalist 116: 465–479.
Google Scholar
Ledig, F. T. 1986. Heterozygosity, heterosis, and fitness in out-breeding plants. Pages 77–104 in M. E. Soulé, ed. Conservation biology—the science of scarcity and diversity. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland , Massachusetts .
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Levin, D. A. 1984. Genetic variation and divergence in a disjunct Pblox. Evolution 38: 223–225.
10.2307/2408561
PubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar
Lewontin, R. C. 1973. Population genetics. Annual Review of Genetics 7: 1–18.
10.1146/annurev.ge.07.120173.000245
PubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar
Loveless, M. D., and J. L. Hamrick. 1984. Ecological determinants of genetic structure in plant populations. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 15: 65–95.
10.1146/annurev.es.15.110184.000433
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Loveless, M. D., and J. L. Hamrick. 1988. Genetic organization and evolutionary history in two North American species of Cirsium. Evolution 42: 254–265.
10.1111/j.1558-5646.1988.tb04130.x
CASPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar
McClenaghan, L. R., and A. C. Beaucamp. 1986. Low genic differentiation among isolated populations of the California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera). Evolution 40: 315–322.
10.1111/j.1558-5646.1986.tb00473.x
PubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar
Menges, E. S. 1988. Population biology of a rare prairie forb, Silene regia 1985–1987. Report to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Indiana Academy of Sciences. Report 131, Holcomb Research Institute, Indianapolis , Indiana . 66 pp.
Google Scholar
Menges, E. S. 1990. Population viability analysis for an endangered plant. Conservation Biology 4: 52–62.
10.1111/j.1523-1739.1990.tb00267.x
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Menges, E. S. 1991. Stochastic modeling of extinction in plant populations. Chapter in P. L. Fiedler and S. Jain, ed. Conservation biology: the theory and practice of nature conservation, population, preservation, and management. Chapman and Hall. In press.
Google Scholar
Meyer, S. E., E. D. McArthur, and G. L. Jorgensen. 1989. Variation in germination response to temperature in rubber rabbit-brush Chrysothamnus nauseosus (Asteraceae) and its ecological implications. American Journal of Botany 76: 981–991.
10.1002/j.1537-2197.1989.tb15078.x
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Pleasants, J. M., and J. F. Wendel. 1989. Genetic diversity in a clonal narrow endemic, Erythronium propullans, and in its widespread progenitor, Erytbronium albidum. American Journal of Botany 76: 1136–1151.
10.2307/2444826
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Rice, K., and S. Jain. 1985. Plant population genetics and evolution in disturbed environments. Pages 287–303 in S. T. A. Pickett add P. S. White, ed. The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, New York .
10.1016/B978-0-08-050495-7.50021-1
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Schemske, D. W., and R. Lande. 1985. The evolution of self fertilization and inbreeding depression in plants 11. Empirical observations. Evolution 39: 41–52.
10.1111/j.1558-5646.1985.tb04078.x
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Schwaegerle, K. E., and B. A. Schaal. 1979. Genetic variability and founder effect in the pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea L. Evolution 33: 1210–1218.
10.1111/j.1558-5646.1979.tb04774.x
PubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar
Shaffer, M. L. 1981. Minimal population sizes for species conservation. Bioscience 31: 131–134.
10.2307/1308256
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Shoumaker, K. M., and G. R. Babbel. 1980. Patterns of allozymic similarity in ecologically central and marginal populations of Hordeum jubatum in Utah. Evolution 34: 110–116.
Web of Science®Google Scholar
Wright, S. 1948. On the roles of directed and random changes in gene frequency in the genetics of populations. Evolution 2: 279–294.
10.1111/j.1558-5646.1948.tb02746.x
CASPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar
Wright, S. 1977. Evolution and genetics of populations. Volume 3. Inbreeding in animals: differentiation and depression. University of Chicago Press, Chicago , Illinois .
Google Scholar
Wu, L., I. Till-Bottraud, and A. Torres. 1987. Genetic differentiation in temperature-enforced seed dormancy among golf course populations of Poa annua L. New Phytologist 107: 623–631.
10.1111/j.1469-8137.1987.tb02932.x
Web of Science®Google Scholar

Citing Literature

Volume5, Issue2

June 1991

Pages 158-164

Seed Germination Percentage Increases with Population Size in a Fragmented Prairie Species

Abstract

Abstract

References

Citing Literature

References

Information

About Wiley Online Library

Help & Support

Opportunities

Connect with Wiley

Seed Germination Percentage Increases with Population Size in a Fragmented Prairie Species

Abstract

Abstract

References

Citing Literature

References

Related

Information