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Is heterostyly rare on oceanic islands?
Kenta Watanabe1, Takashi Sugawara2
1Okinawa College, National Institute of Technology, 905 Henoko, Nago, Okinawa 905-2192, Japan kenta-w@okinawa-ct.ac.jp.
Aob PLANTS
|July 23, 2015
Summary
Heterostyly, a floral trait, appears rare on oceanic islands. This rarity may stem from colonization challenges and shifts to other breeding systems like dioecy in genera such as Psychotria.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Plant Reproductive Biology
- Island Biogeography
Background:
- Heterostyly is a genetic mating system in flowering plants.
- Its prevalence on oceanic islands is debated, with limited comprehensive reviews.
- The genus Psychotria in the Pacific serves as a model for studying island plant reproduction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the occurrence and evolutionary drivers of heterostyly on oceanic islands.
- To determine if heterostyly is genuinely rare in these environments.
- To explore the factors contributing to its potential rarity.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive review of reproductive studies on heterostylous species on oceanic islands.
- Focus on the genus Psychotria in the Pacific Ocean.
- Analysis of breeding systems including distyly, dioecy, and monomorphy.
Main Results:
- Few reproductive studies exist for heterostylous species on oceanic islands.
- Hawaiian Psychotria species show a trend of evolving dioecy from distyly.
- West Pacific Psychotria exhibits diverse breeding systems, with distyly on oceanic islands and varied systems on continental islands.
Conclusions:
- Heterostyly may be rare on oceanic islands due to colonization difficulties and evolutionary shifts to other breeding systems.
- Further research on Psychotria's reproductive systems with phylogenetic frameworks is needed.
- Understanding these shifts provides insights into plant reproduction on islands.
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