Digest: Scarce pollen resources and asymmetric reproductive isolation

Abstract

What mechanisms cause asymmetries in reproductive success in crosses between closely related species that differ in floral style length? Feller et al. (2024) found that in 5 Phlox species, short-styled species produced smaller pollen grains than long-styled species. The smaller pollen of short-styled species lacked the resources to grow pollen tubes long enough to reach the ovules of long-styled species. This asymmetric pollen-style-length incompatibility may considerably affect patterns of gene flow among species.