Data from: The effects of inbreeding, genetic dissimilarity and phenotype on male reproductive success in a dioecious plant

Pollen fate can strongly affect the genetic structure of populations with restricted gene flow and significant inbreeding risk. We established an experimental population of inbred and outbred Silene latifolia plants to evaluate the effects of (i) inbreeding depression, (ii) phenotypic variation and (iii) relatedness between mates on male fitness under natural pollination. Paternity analysis revealed that outbred males sired significantly more offspring than inbred males. Independently of the effects of inbreeding, male fitness depended on several male traits, including a sexually dimorphic (flower number) and a gametophytic trait (in vitro pollen germination rate). In addition, full-sib matings were less frequent than randomly expected. Thus, inbreeding, phenotype and genetic dissimilarity simultaneously affect male fitness in this animal-pollinated plant. While inbreeding depression might threaten population persistence, the deficiency of effective matings between sibs and the higher fitness of outbred males will reduce its occurrence and counter genetic erosion.

花粉命运可强烈影响基因流受限且近交风险显著的种群的遗传结构。我们构建了近交与远交的宽叶麦瓶草（Silene latifolia）实验种群，以评估在自然授粉条件下，(i)近交衰退、(ii)表型变异以及(iii)配偶间亲缘关系对雄性适合度的影响。父本分析结果显示，远交雄性个体产生的后代数量显著多于近交雄性个体。不依赖于近交效应的前提下，雄性适合度取决于多项雄性性状，包括性二态性状（花朵数量）以及配子体性状（体外花粉萌发率）。此外，全同胞交配的发生频率低于随机预期水平。因此，在该动物传粉植物中，近交、表型特征与遗传相异性会同时影响雄性适合度。尽管近交衰退可能威胁种群存续，但同胞间有效交配的匮乏以及远交雄性更高的适合度，将减少近交衰退的发生，并抵消遗传侵蚀效应。