Data from: Patterns of pollen flow in a dense population of the insect-pollinated canopy tree species Castanopsis sieboldii

Insect pollinations of tree species with high-density populations have
rarely been studied. Since the density of adults can affect effective
pollen dispersal, short-distance pollination, even by insects, may
frequently occur in high-density populations. To test this prediction, we
investigated pollination patterns in a high-density population of the
insect-pollinated canopy tree species Castanopsis sieboldii by paternity
analysis using genotypes at 8 microsatellite loci of 145 adult trees and
439 seeds from 11 seed parents in a 4-ha plot. We then explored their
genetic effects on the population by calculating other population genetics
parameters. Although C. sieboldii has high potential for long-distance
dispersal of pollen (as indicated by a fat-tailed dispersal kernel), the
cumulative pollination at the local scale was spatially limited and
strongly dependent on the distance between parents due to the high density
of adults. Genetic diversity estimates for pollen pools accepted by each
seed parent converged on a maximum as the effective number of pollen
parents increased. The genetic diversity of pollen pool bulked over all
the seed parents from inside the plot did not differ from that of the
total pollen pools. Therefore, although pollen flow from distant pollen
parents may help to maintain the genetic diversity of offspring, pollen
parents neighboring seed parents may be the main contributors to the
genetic diversity of the offspring at the seed stage.