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Interspecific Competition For Pollination Lowers Seed Production And Outcrossing In Mimulus Ringens, John M. Bell, Jeffrey D. Karron, Randall J. Mitchell

Biology Faculty Research

Sympatric plant species with similar flowering phenologies and floral morphologies may compete for pollination, and as a consequence potentially influence each other's reproductive success and mating system. Two likely competitors are Mimulus ringens and Lobelia siphilitica, which co-occur in wet meadows of central and eastern North America, produce blue zygomorphic flowers, and share several species of bumble bee pollinators. To test for effects of competition for pollination, we planted experimental arrays of Mimulus ringens, each consisting of genets with unique combinations of homozygous marker genotypes. In two arrays we planted mixtures of Mimulus and Lobelia. and in two additional arrays …