How can interspecific pollen transfer affect the coevolution and coexistence of two closely related plant species?

Abstract

Interspecific pollen transfer (IPT), the movement of pollen grains between different plant species by sharing pollinators, incurs costs (fitness reduction) for seed production. IPT thereby reduces the reproductive success of co-flowering plants sharing pollinators, thus preventing their coexistence. However, the impact of IPT on the evolutionary dynamics and evolution-mediated ecological dynamics of sex allocation resource investment to pollen versus ovules) is poorly understood. Here, we investigate the consequences of the female costs incurred by IPT for the co-evolution and coexistence of two plants, by using a mathematical model where two plant species interact with each other via resource competition, pollen movements within and between species, and reduced fertilization due to IPT. The ecological situation we consider here is that an invasive species with female-biased sex allocation immigrates into a habitat of a resident species whose sex allocation is evolutionarily maintained at Fisherian sex allocation (FSA). By using adaptive dynamics theory, we found that regardless of the strength of IPT, natural selection favours the equal allocation to pollen grains and ovules (FSA) for both species. If the mutual impact of IPT on two species is similar in magnitude, we find that the eco-evolutionary dynamics can lead to their stable coexistence. In contrast, when only the invasive species negatively impacts the resident species through IPT, the evolution in invasive species from female-biased sex allocation to FSA causes the extinction of the resident species. Given that local mate competition in small populations is expected to result in female-based sex allocation, our finding suggests that if invasive species are relaxed from local mate competition, they may drive the resident species to extinction. Our study highlights the importance and complexity of the evolution of biased sex allocation driven by IPT to understand the coexistence of closely related plant species.