PARENT SESSION
Symposium #21: Effects of inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity on interactions with natural enemies.
Organized by: CT Ivey, DE Carr, and MD Eubanks
Wednesday, August 7. 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM. Crystal Ballroom, TCC.
The interplay between plant mating systems and herbivory.
STRAUSS, SHARON*,1, 1 UC, DAVIS, DAVIS, CA
ABSTRACT- Non-random mating in plant populations can be both an outcome of the effects of herbivory, and a factor that influences the degree to which plants are attacked by herbivores. In this talk, I review evidence from previous experiments that shows how plant mating system can affect the degree to which plants are attacked by herbivores. In this case, the impact of mating system depended on the resistance phenotypes of parental plants. I then discuss how herbivory and/or resistance traits may, in turn, result in non-random, assortative mating between defensive phenotypes within plant populations. Non-random mating may be generated by differential growth rates between resistant and susceptible genotypes, or by changes in flowering phenology as a result of damage. Finally, I describe the effects of herbivory on allocation patterns in plants to male and female fitness components and to male and female reproductive success. These components of plant fitness, in turn, influence the extent of gene flow in natural populations.
KEY WORDS: inbreeding, herbivory, Erigeron glaucus, Raphanus raphanistrum