Data from: Species selection maintains self-incompatibility
Data files
Aug 21, 2010 version files 23.07 KB
-
NicSolPLML.tre
13.97 KB
-
NicSolstatus.csv
7.64 KB
-
README_for_NicSolstatus.txt
1.46 KB
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.