PARENT SESSION
Oral Session # 32: Herbivory II: Grasslands.
Presiding: K Suttle
Tuesday, August 5. 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM, SITCC Meeting Room 200.
Complex effects of inbreeding on complex interactions: Self-fertilization alters the interactive effects of natural enemies on plant fitness.
Eubanks, Micky*,1, Carr, David2, Murphy, John1, 1 Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn, Alabama, United States of America2 Blandy Experimental Farm, Boyce, Virginia, United States of America
ABSTRACT- We conducted a greenhouse experiment to determine the effects of inbreeding (self-pollination) on the ability of yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus (Scrophulariaceae) to tolerate attack by spittlebugs and a plant virus. We conducted a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment to quantify the effects of pollination (self or outcross), spittlebug infestation (Philaenus spumarius) and virus inoculation (Cucumber mosaic virus, CMV) on the fitness of 26 full-sib families of yellow monkeyflower. We found strong evidence that spittlebugs and CMV interacted to affect plant fitness, but in several cases inbreeding altered the strength of this interaction and in a few cases inbreeding altered the direction of this interaction. In addition, the effect of inbreeding on the interactive effects of spittlebugs and CMV varied among monkeyflower families. Our study suggests that inbreeding can have complicated effects on interactions between inbred plants and their environment, but that these effects will vary among genotypes. This will make it difficult to make predictions about the ecological effects of inbreeding on small, isolated populations that are forced to self-fertilize.
Key words: herbivory, plant virus, Mimulus guttatus, pathogen