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Dryad

Data from: Species selection maintains self-incompatibility

Cite this dataset

Goldberg, Emma E et al. (2010). Data from: Species selection maintains self-incompatibility [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1888

Abstract

Identifying traits that affect rates of speciation and extinction and hence explain differences in species diversity among clades is a major goal of evolutionary biology. Detecting such traits is especially difficult when they undergo frequent transitions between states. Self-incompatibility, the ability of hermaphrodites to enforce outcrossing, is frequently lost in flowering plants, enabling self-fertilization. We show, however, that in the nightshade plant family (Solanaceae), species with functional self-incompatibility diversify at a significantly higher rate than those without it. Apparent short-term advantages of potentially self-fertilizing individuals are therefore offset by strong species selection, which favors obligate outcrossing.

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