Spatial distribution of flower color induced by interspecific sexual interaction

Understanding the mechanisms shaping the spatiotemporal distribution of species has long been a central concern of ecology and evolutionary biology. Contemporary patterns of plant assemblies suggest that sexual interactions among species, i.e., reproductive interference, lead to the exclusive distributions of closely related species that share pollinators. However, the fitness consequences and the initial ecological/evolutionary responses to reproductive interference remain unclear in nature, since reproductive isolation or allopatric distribution has already been achieved in the natural community. In Japan, three species of blue-eyed grasses (Sisyrinchium) with incomplete reproductive isolation have recently colonized and occur sympatrically. Two of them are monomorphic with white flowers, whereas the other exhibits heritable color polymorphism (white and purple morphs). Here we investigated the effects of the presence of two monomorphic species on the distribution and reproductive suc...