Skip to main content
Dryad

Fruit-, seed- and seedling-related fitness traits after self-pollination and two types of cross-pollination in regionally and locally common and rare plant species

Bürli, Sarah1; Ensslin, Andreas2; Fischer, Markus2

Published Jul 26, 2024 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mw6m90658

Cite this dataset

Bürli, Sarah; Ensslin, Andreas; Fischer, Markus (2024). Fruit-, seed- and seedling-related fitness traits after self-pollination and two types of cross-pollination in regionally and locally common and rare plant species [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mw6m90658

Abstract

Local abundance and regional distribution are two aspects of a species’ rarity. They are suggested to differentially alter genetic processes in plants: Locally rare species are hypothesized to suffer less from inbreeding and outbreeding than locally common species, thanks to genetic purging through long inbreeding histories and weaker local adaptations, respectively. Regionally rare species are hypothesized to be more susceptible to outbreeding, but less to inbreeding, compared to regionally common ones, due to small and declining range size. While this has major implications for plant conservation practices, we lack evidence and general understanding of how breeding effects on a plant’s early life fitness are related to its local and regional rarity. To investigate effects of inbreeding and outbreeding on plants’ early fitness, we performed self-, within- and between-population pollinations in eight pairs of closely related species differing in regional and local rarity. To avoid biases due to context dependency, we took species competitive ability, habitat resource-richness, and resource-allocation strategy into account in the analyses. We then tested how inbreeding and outbreeding affected five fruit-, seed- and seedling-related traits. Inbreeding did not generally have more negative effects on early fitness of regionally rare and non-competitive species than on regionally common and competitive ones. Outbreeding was generally beneficial to early fitness of plant species across the gradients of regional rarity, competitive ability, and habitat resource-richness. Our results show that outbreeding may be beneficial to the early fitness of plant species, including rare and non-competitive ones, and may be considered for conservation strategies.

README: Fruit-, seed- and seedling-related fitness traits after self-pollination and two types of cross-pollination in regionally and locally common and rare plant species

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mw6m90658

Three datasets are provided here:

Pollination_crosses.csv: Data of the Pollination experiment for the following fitness-related traits: Number of seeds (i.e. seed set), Mean number of seeds (i.e Mean seed set), Total seed mass (i.e. Total seed weight) and Germination percentage (i.e. Germination rate or Germination ratio). This dataset was created by Sarah Bürli with data collected from a pollination experiment done in 2018-2021, where self-pollinations, between seed-family cross-pollinations and between population cross-pollinations were performed by hand.

Pollini_fruit_ratio.csv: Data of the Pollination experiment for the fitness-related trait Developed fruit ratio resulting from hand pollinations. This dataset was created by Sarah Bürli with data collected from a pollination experiment done in 2018-2021, where self-pollinations, between seed-family cross-pollinations and between population cross-pollinations were performed by hand.

Pollination_leaf_length.csv: Data of the Pollination experiment for the fitness-related trait Leaf length of the F1 seedlings (after six weeks of growth) resulting from the fruits which resulted from the hand pollinations. This dataset was created by Sarah Bürli with data collected from a pollination experiment done in 2018-2021, where self-pollinations, between seed-family cross-pollinations and between population cross-pollinations were performed by hand.

Description of the data and file structure

DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR Pollination_crosses.csv

1) Number of variables: 28

2) Number of rows: 1642

3) Variable names:

  • Species_pair_number: code corresponding to a pair of a common and a congeneric (i.e. from the same genus or from a closely related genus) rare plant species.
  • Species: name of the plant species abbreviated with the three first letter of the genus and the three first letter of the species name, e.g., CAMpanula CERvicaria is CAMCER. For full species names, please, refer to Table 1 in Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081.
  • Pollination_type: the type of hand pollination performed, either Selfing (S), Between seed-families outcrossing (BSF; i.e. within-populations outcrossing) or Between population outcrossing (BP).
  • Population_pollen_donor: code of the population of the paternal plant.
  • Seed-family_pollen_donnor: code of the seed-family of the maternal plant, as the plant species name_population_seed-family code.
  • Individual_pollen_donor: code of the paternal plant, i.e. the plant from which the pollen was taken to perform the hand pollination.
  • Population_pollen_receiver: code of the population of the maternal plant (i.e. population pollen receiver).
  • Seed_family_pollen_receiver: code of the seed-family of the maternal plant, as the plant species name_population_seed-family code.
  • Individual_pollen_receiver: code of the maternal plant, i.e. the plant that received the pollen.
  • Pollination_date: date on which the hand pollination was performed. Date format: dd.mm.yyyy.
  • Flowering_stem_length: the maternal plant height (from the ground to the tip of the longest stem) [cm].
  • Flower_level: the rank of the pollinated flower in the inflorescence (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Seed_set: the number of seeds in the fruit, or whether the fruit was lost (LOST) or aborted (ABORTED).
  • Seed_set_state: whether the fruit was aborted (0) or it was developed (1).
  • Total_seed_weight_per_fruit_mg: the weight in [mg] of all the seeds together.
  • Mean_seed_weight_mg: the ratio between Total_seed_weight_per_fruit_[mg] and Seed_set.
  • Pollination_year: the year in which the hand pollination was performed. Format: yyyy.
  • Date_seed_collection: the date on which the fruit was collected. Date format: dd.mm.yyyy.
  • Rarity: Rarity (i.e. rare or common) of the plant species (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Range_size: Range size of the plant species calculated as the highest number of 5x5 grid square that is occupied by the plant species during the last century with only confirmed observations since 1967 (Bornand et al., 2016).
  • Plant_measure: the mean plant size in [cm] per species.
  • SLA: Mean specific leaf area per plant species in mm2/mg (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Chlorophyll: Mean leaf chlorophyll concentration per plant species (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Compstrat: Competitive strategy of the plant species as integer (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • N: Landolt indicator value for nutrients of the plant species (Landolt et al., 2010; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • F: Landolt indicator value for moisture of the plant species(Landolt et al., 2010; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • DG: Landolt indicator value for dominance in-situ of the plant species(Landolt et al., 2010; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Germination_ratio: seed-germination percentage (here called germination ratio) per fruit calculated on the day of the seedling pricking out (i.e. number of germinated seeds divided by the number of sown seeds; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081). Only seeds from a subset of fruits were sown to assess the germination ratio. Thus, for non-evaluated fruits, there is a NA (not available).

4) Missing data codes: NA = not available.

DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR Pollini_fruit_ratio.csv

1) Number of variables: 19

2) Number of rows: 125

3) Variable names:

  • Species_pair_number: code corresponding to a pair of a common and a congeneric (i.e. from the same genus or from a closely related genus) rare plant species.
  • Species: name of the plant species abbreviated with the three first letter of the genus and the three first letter of the species name, e.g., CAMpanula CERvicaria is CAMCER. For full species names, please, refer to Table 1 in Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081.
  • Population_pollen_receiver: code of the population of the maternal plant (i.e. population pollen receiver).
  • Pollination_type: the type of hand pollination performed, either Selfing (S), Between seed-families outcrossing (BSF; i.e. within-populations outcrossing) or Between population outcrossing (BP).
  • Pollination_code: code corresponding to the plant species name_maternal population_pollination type of the fruit.
  • Nb_dvl_fruits: number of developed fruits per plant species, maternal population and pollination type.
  • Nb_aborted_fruits: number of aborted fruits per plant species, maternal population and pollination type.
  • Nb_tot_fruit: total number of fruits per plant species, maternal population and pollination type.
  • Dvl_fruit_ratio: ratio between Nb_aborted_fruits and Nb_tot_fruit.
  • Pollination_year: the year in which the hand pollination was performed. Format: yyyy.
  • Rarity: Rarity (i.e. rare or common) of the plant species (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Range_size: Range size of the plant species calculated as the highest number of 5x5 grid square that is occupied by the plant species during the last century with only confirmed observations since 1967 (Bornand et al., 2016).
  • Plant_measure: the mean plant size in [cm] per species.
  • SLA: Mean specific leaf area per plant species in mm2/mg (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Chlorophyll: Mean leaf chlorophyll concentration per plant species (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Compstrat: Competitive strategy of the plant species as integer (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • N: Landolt indicator value for nutrients of the plant species (Landolt et al., 2010; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • F: Landolt indicator value for moisture of the plant species(Landolt et al., 2010; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • DG: Landolt indicator value for dominance in-situ of the plant species(Landolt et al., 2010; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).

4) Missing data codes: NA = not available.

DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR Pollination_leaf_length.csv

1) Number of variables: 20

2) Number of rows: 1373

3) Variable names:

  • Species_pair_number: code corresponding to a pair of a common and a congeneric (i.e. from the same genus or from a closely related genus) rare plant species.
  • Species: name of the plant species abbreviated with the three first letter of the genus and the three first letter of the species name, e.g., CAMpanula CERvicaria is CAMCER. For full species names, please, refer to Table 1 in Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081.
  • Population_pollen_receiver: code of the population of the maternal plant (i.e. population pollen receiver).
  • Seed_family_pollen_receiver: code of the seed-family of the maternal plant, as the plant species name_population_seed-family code.
  • Individual_pollen_receiver: code of the maternal plant, i.e. the plant that received the pollen.
  • Pollination_type: the type of hand pollination performed, either Selfing (S), Between seed-families outcrossing (BSF; i.e. within-populations outcrossing) or Between population outcrossing (BP).
  • Individual_pollination_code: unique code per seedling in the entire dataset, as species_maternal population_pollination type_pollination type number_Individual.
  • Leaf_length_transplantation_cm: length of the seedling in [cm] on the day of their pricking out in an individual pot.
  • Transplantation_date: date on which the seedling was pricked out in an individual pot. Date format: dd.mm.yyyy.
  • Leaf_length_6_weeks_cm: length of the seedling in [cm] after 6 weeks of growth in an individual pot (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081). Only a subset of seedlings were measured. Thus, for the non-measured seedlings, there is a NA.
  • Measurement_date: date on which the seedling was measured after 6 weeks of growth in an individual pot. Date format: dd.mm.yyyy.
  • Rarity: Rarity (i.e. rare or common) of the plant species (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Range_size: Range size of the plant species calculated as the highest number of 5x5 grid square that is occupied by the plant species during the last century with only confirmed observations since 1967 (Bornand et al., 2016).
  • Plant_measure: the mean plant size in [cm] per species.
  • SLA: Mean specific leaf area per plant species in mm2/mg (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Chlorophyll: Mean leaf chlorophyll concentration per plant species (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • Compstrat: Competitive strategy of the plant species as integer (for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • N: Landolt indicator value for nutrients of the plant species (Landolt et al., 2010; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • F: Landolt indicator value for moisture of the plant species(Landolt et al., 2010; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).
  • DG: Landolt indicator value for dominance in-situ of the plant species(Landolt et al., 2010; for more details, please refer to the Material and Method section of Bürli, S., Ensslin, A., & Fischer, M. (2024). Rarity and life-history strategies shape inbreeding and outbreeding effects on early plant fitness. Global Ecology and Conservation, e03081).

4) Missing data codes: NA = not available.

Code/Software

To open the dataset (.csv), we suggest to use Libre Office Calc or Excel. To analyze the data, we suggest using R.

Methods

Data were collected from self-, within- and between-population pollinations in eight pairs of closely related species differing in regional and local rarity, habitat resource-availability, growth, and competitive strategies. 

Funding

Federal Office for the Environment, Biodiversity and Landscape Division