Postzygotic isolation in the polyploid complexof a high mountain plant (Senecio carniolicus, Asteraceae)

TL;DRAbstract

Senecio carniolicus Willd is a common, abundant high mountain plant of the Eastern Alps and Carpathians that forms a polyploid complex with three main cytotypes (diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid). Recent sampling of individuals over the whole Eastern Alpine range showed that despite a large number of mixed populations odd-ploidy individuals are largely missing. Prezygotic isolation, although certainly existent, does not suffice to explain this absence, thus a germination experiment using seeds from artificial crossings was designed to uncover the nature and strength of the postulated postzygotic reproductive barriers. Crossing success of all inter-cytotype combinations, but especially for tetraploid-hexaploid ones, was unexpectedly high. Analysed over the whole observation period (until formation of the primary leaf), there were slight disadvantages for inter-ploidy hybrids compared to cytotype-uniform crossings - neither in terms of developmental speed, nor in terms of survival rates

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