Meta-analysis reveals severe pollen limitation for the flowering plants growing in the East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region.
Background: Pollen limitation occurs widely and has an important effect on flowering plants. The East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region is a global biodiversity hotspot. However, to our knowledge, no study has synthetically assessed the degree of pollen limitation in this area. The present study aims to reveal the degree of pollen limitation for the flowering plants growing on East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains and to test whether the reproductive features or the elevation is closely correlated with the degree of pollen limitation in this area.
Results: We complied data from 76 studies, which included 96 species and 108 independent data records. We found that the flowering plants in this area undergo severe pollen limitation (overall Hedges’ d=2.004, with a 95% confidence interval [1.3264, 2.6743]) that is much higher than that of the flowering plants growing in many other regions around the world. The degree of pollen limitation was tested to determine the correlation with the capacity for autonomous self-reproduction and with the pollination pattern (generalized vs. specialized pollination) of plants. In addition, we found a clear relationship between elevation and the degree of pollen limitation, which indicates that plants might undergo more severe pollen limitation in relatively high places.
Conclusions: This paper is the first to address the severe pollen limitation of the flowering plants growing in East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region. Moreover, we reveal the positive correlation between elevation and the degree of pollen limitation.
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Supplementary material Table S1. Data, reference, location, elevation, plant features, effect size and its variance for the species included in this review.
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Meta-analysis reveals severe pollen limitation for the flowering plants growing in the East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region.
Posted 23 Sep, 2020
On 15 Sep, 2020
Received 08 Aug, 2020
Invitations sent on 06 Jul, 2020
On 06 Jul, 2020
On 19 Feb, 2020
On 18 Feb, 2020
On 14 Feb, 2020
On 08 Jan, 2020
Received 19 Dec, 2019
Received 15 Dec, 2019
Received 15 Dec, 2019
On 03 Dec, 2019
On 01 Dec, 2019
On 01 Dec, 2019
Invitations sent on 07 Nov, 2019
On 14 Oct, 2019
On 13 Oct, 2019
On 13 Oct, 2019
Background: Pollen limitation occurs widely and has an important effect on flowering plants. The East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region is a global biodiversity hotspot. However, to our knowledge, no study has synthetically assessed the degree of pollen limitation in this area. The present study aims to reveal the degree of pollen limitation for the flowering plants growing on East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains and to test whether the reproductive features or the elevation is closely correlated with the degree of pollen limitation in this area.
Results: We complied data from 76 studies, which included 96 species and 108 independent data records. We found that the flowering plants in this area undergo severe pollen limitation (overall Hedges’ d=2.004, with a 95% confidence interval [1.3264, 2.6743]) that is much higher than that of the flowering plants growing in many other regions around the world. The degree of pollen limitation was tested to determine the correlation with the capacity for autonomous self-reproduction and with the pollination pattern (generalized vs. specialized pollination) of plants. In addition, we found a clear relationship between elevation and the degree of pollen limitation, which indicates that plants might undergo more severe pollen limitation in relatively high places.
Conclusions: This paper is the first to address the severe pollen limitation of the flowering plants growing in East Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains region. Moreover, we reveal the positive correlation between elevation and the degree of pollen limitation.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4