Pollinator abundance shapes sexual selection in an angiosperm
- 1ISEM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier, France
- 2CEFE, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
Abstract
Sexual selection is a central force in evolutionary biology that has been shown to shape phenotypes and population dynamics in animals. While this selective force is increasingly recognized in flowering plants, theory predicts that anisogamy generates sex differences in the fitness benefits of acquiring additional mates—a pattern well supported in animals but with limited tests in plants. Plant studies rely solely on genetic parentage analyses to estimate mate numbers, thereby conflating performance in accessing mates with success in gamete fertilization. Pollinators add an ecological layer, as their behavior and abundance can influence competition for access to mates and their gametes. Here, we disentangle consecutive episodes of sexual selection in the hermaphroditic plant Brassica rapa by combining direct observations of Bombus terrestris movements with genetic paternity analyses in experimental populations, thus providing independent estimates of the observational number of mates acquired and realized fertilization success. Our approach identifies pollen competition for ovules as the primary arena for sexual selection in B. rapa. Competition for access to mates constitutes a secondary force and was found to be stronger in the male compared to the female sex function, as predicted by classic theory. Experimentally reduced pollinator abundance modulated the balance between pre- and post-pollination sexual selection, increasing the opportunity for selection on mate acquisition. Ignoring pollinator movements led to biased estimates of pre-pollination sexual selection. Our findings demonstrate that sexual selection in plants unfolds across multiple, sequential episodes shaped by ecological context.
What impact does pollinator abundance and behavior have on sexual selection in flowering plants? This study uses bumblebees and Brassica rapa to show that pollen competition for ovules is the primary arena for sexual selection.
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BibTeX
@article{barbot2026pollinator,
title = {{Pollinator abundance shapes sexual selection in an angiosperm}},
author = {Estelle Barbot and Mathilde Dufaÿ and Tim Janicke and Benoit Lapeyre and Denis Orcel and François Rousset and Jeanne Tonnabel},
journal = {PLOS Biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pbio.3003579},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003579},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Pollinator abundance shapes sexual selection in an angiosperm
AU - Estelle Barbot
AU - Mathilde Dufaÿ
AU - Tim Janicke
AU - Benoit Lapeyre
AU - Denis Orcel
AU - François Rousset
AU - Jeanne Tonnabel
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
JO - PLOS Biology
DO - 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003579
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003579
AB - Sexual selection is a central force in evolutionary biology that has been shown to shape phenotypes and population dynamics in animals. While this selective force is increasingly recognized in flowering plants, theory predicts that anisogamy generates sex differences in the fitness benefits of acquiring additional mates—a pattern well supported in animals but with limited tests in plants. Plant studies rely solely on genetic parentage analyses to estimate mate numbers, thereby conflating performance in accessing mates with success in gamete fertilization. Pollinators add an ecological layer, as their behavior and abundance can influence competition for access to mates and their gametes. Here, we disentangle consecutive episodes of sexual selection in the hermaphroditic plant Brassica rapa by combining direct observations of Bombus terrestris movements with genetic paternity analyses in experimental populations, thus providing independent estimates of the observational number of mates acquired and realized fertilization success. Our approach identifies pollen competition for ovules as the primary arena for sexual selection in B. rapa. Competition for access to mates constitutes a secondary force and was found to be stronger in the male compared to the female sex function, as predicted by classic theory. Experimentally reduced pollinator abundance modulated the balance between pre- and post-pollination sexual selection, increasing the opportunity for selection on mate acquisition. Ignoring pollinator movements led to biased estimates of pre-pollination sexual selection. Our findings demonstrate that sexual selection in plants unfolds across multiple, sequential episodes shaped by ecological context. What impact does pollinator abundance and behavior have on sexual selection in flowering plants? This study uses bumblebees and Brassica rapa to show that pollen competition for ovules is the primary arena for sexual selection.
SN - 1545-7885
SN - 1544-9173
ER -