Direct effects of polyploidization on floral scent

Polyploidy is an important driver of the evolution and diversification of flowering plants. Several studies have shown that established polyploids differ from diploids in floral morphological traits and that polyploidization directly affects these traits. However, for floral scent, which is key to many plant-pollinator interactions, only a few studies have quantified differences between established cytotypes, and the direct effects of polyploidization on floral scent are not yet known. We compared the floral scent of established polyploids and diploids from a natural mixed-ploidy population of the plant Lithophragma bolanderi (Saxifragaceae), a species pollinated by two highly specialized moth pollinators of the genus Greya (Prodoxidae). We also compared the floral scent of neopolyploids synthetically generated from diploids with the floral scent of the diploid progenitors to quantify the direct effects of polyploidization on floral scent. Established tetraploids had a higher floral sce..., Seeds collected in one natural Lithophragma bolanderi population, in which both diploids and tetraploids grow, were grown in a greenhouse common garden. The ploidy level of the seeds was known. A subset of the diploid seedlings was treated with colchicine to induce polyploidization. When plants were well established, leaf material was collected and analyzed using flow cytometry to verify plant ploidy level. When these plants were flowering, hand-pollination crossings were conducted among colchicine-treated plants that were at least partially polyploid, among diploid control plants, and tetraploid control plants. These crosses were done to mitigate the side effects of colchicine. The seeds resulting from these crossings were used to grow F1 plants. When the F1 plants were well established, leaf material of all colchicine-treated plants and a subset of the diploid and tetraploid control plants was collected and analyzed using flow cytometry (conducted by Plant Cytometry Service [https://w..., # Data from: Direct effects of polyploidization on floral scent

This dataset contains all data newly collected for the following article: 
Schlager E, Dötterl S, Thompson JN, Friberg M, Gross K. 2025. Direct effects of polyploidization on floral scent. Journal of Chemical Ecology.

Details concerning the methodology and analyses of all data are described in the main text and the SI Appendix file of the article above.

This dataset consists of the following data file (file type: tab-delimited .txt file):

ScentData_Schlager_etal_2025.txt

## Description of the data and file structure

### ScentData_Schlager_etal_2025.txt

These data were used to assess differences in floral cent between established diploids and established tetraploids the direct effects of polyploidization on floral scent by comparing synthetically generated neopolyploids with established diploids and established tetraploids and colchicine-treated plants that remained diploid. With these data, permutational multivariate...,