Abstract Detail

Pollination Biology

Martine, Christopher T. [1], Anderson, Gregory J. [2], Scharf, Alexander [3].

Solanum sejunctum is cryptically dioecious via the production of inaperturate pollen in morphologically hermaphrodite flowers.

In 2006, Brennan, et al. described a new Australian spiny solanum from Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory. Solanum sejunctum was determined to be sister to S. asymmetriphyllum, a sympatric dioecious species with which it shares similar floral morphology. Although the few specimens of S. sejunctum held by herbaria were complete enough to generate a species description, little was known about its distribution and reproductive biology. Likewise, a confirmation that S. sejunctum is dioecious via the production of inaperturate pollen in morphologically hermaphrodite flowers (as in 10 other Australian dioecious Solanum species) was lacking. Field surveys in 2009 led to a greater understanding of S. sejunctum natural history and resulted in extensive collections of flowering and fruiting specimens. Seeds extracted from dried specimens were used to establish the first cultivated research collection of S. sejunctum. Through a series of pollination experiments, coupled with scanning electron microscopy, we have confirmed that S. sejunctum and S. asymmetriphyllum are both cryptically dioecious species in which individual plants produce either tricolporate or inaperturate pollen. This and other recent findings have significantly increased our knowledge of S. sejunctum and facilitated the generation of new hypotheses on modes of speciation and the evolution of dioecy in Australian “bush tomatoes.”

Broader Impacts:

1 - SUNY Plattsburgh, Department of Biological Sciences, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY, 12901, USA
2 - University of Connecticut, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 75 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, Connecticut, 06269, USA
3 - SUNY Plattsburgh, Center for Earth and Environmental Science, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY, 12901, USA

Keywords:
Solanum
Solanaceae
dioecy
inaperturate pollen.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: 48
Location: 551B/Convention Center
Date: Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Time: 9:15 AM
Number: 48006
Abstract ID:750