{"title":"The evolutionary dynamics of plant mating systems: how bias for studying 'interesting' plant reproductive systems could backfire.","authors":"Elena M Meyer, Laura F Galloway, Andrew J Eckert","doi":"10.1093/aob/mcaf031","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>An \"abominable mystery\": angiosperm sexual systems have been a source of both interest and frustration for the botanical community since Darwin. The evolutionary stability, overall frequency, and distribution of self-fertilization and mixed-mating systems have been explored in a variety of studies. However, there has been no recent study which directly addresses our knowledge of mating systems across families, the adequacy of existing data, or the potential for biases.</p><p><strong>Scope: </strong>Here we present an updated dataset of mating systems across flowering plants covering 6,781 species and 212 families based on a synthesis of existing reviews and an original literature review using Web of Science. We assess the adequacy of this data by evaluating for bias indicating enrichment of certain families or sexual systems.</p><p><strong>Key results: </strong>We find that the vast majority of our data on mating systems comes from a small number of disproportionally sampled families, and that families with significant proportions of dioecious or monoecious species are much more likely to be undersampled.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our results show that the frequency of selfing in angiosperms is overestimated, possibly due to increased research interest in selfing and mixed-mating systems. This suggests that systematic study bias may mean we know less about this vital facet of plant life than we think.</p>","PeriodicalId":8023,"journal":{"name":"Annals of botany","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Annals of botany","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf031","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PLANT SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background and aims: An "abominable mystery": angiosperm sexual systems have been a source of both interest and frustration for the botanical community since Darwin. The evolutionary stability, overall frequency, and distribution of self-fertilization and mixed-mating systems have been explored in a variety of studies. However, there has been no recent study which directly addresses our knowledge of mating systems across families, the adequacy of existing data, or the potential for biases.
Scope: Here we present an updated dataset of mating systems across flowering plants covering 6,781 species and 212 families based on a synthesis of existing reviews and an original literature review using Web of Science. We assess the adequacy of this data by evaluating for bias indicating enrichment of certain families or sexual systems.
Key results: We find that the vast majority of our data on mating systems comes from a small number of disproportionally sampled families, and that families with significant proportions of dioecious or monoecious species are much more likely to be undersampled.
Conclusions: Our results show that the frequency of selfing in angiosperms is overestimated, possibly due to increased research interest in selfing and mixed-mating systems. This suggests that systematic study bias may mean we know less about this vital facet of plant life than we think.
期刊介绍:
Annals of Botany is an international plant science journal publishing novel and rigorous research in all areas of plant science. It is published monthly in both electronic and printed forms with at least two extra issues each year that focus on a particular theme in plant biology. The Journal is managed by the Annals of Botany Company, a not-for-profit educational charity established to promote plant science worldwide.
The Journal publishes original research papers, invited and submitted review articles, ''Research in Context'' expanding on original work, ''Botanical Briefings'' as short overviews of important topics, and ''Viewpoints'' giving opinions. All papers in each issue are summarized briefly in Content Snapshots , there are topical news items in the Plant Cuttings section and Book Reviews . A rigorous review process ensures that readers are exposed to genuine and novel advances across a wide spectrum of botanical knowledge. All papers aim to advance knowledge and make a difference to our understanding of plant science.