Mismatch between pollen and pistil size causes asymmetric mechanical reproductive isolation across Phlox species

Characterizing the mechanisms of reproductive isolation (RI) between lineages is key to determining how new species are formed and maintained. In flowering plants, interactions between the reproductive organs of the flower –the pollen and the pistil– serve as the last barrier to reproduction before fertilization. As such, these pollen-pistil interactions are both complex and important for determining a suitable mate. Here, we test whether differences in style length (a part of the pistil) generate a postmating prezygotic mechanical barrier between five species of perennial Phlox wildflowers with geographically overlapping distributions. We perform controlled pairwise reciprocal crosses between three species with long styles and two species with short styles to assess crossing success (seed set). We find that heterospecific seed set is broadly reduced compared to conspecific cross success and reveal a striking asymmetry in heterospecific crosses between species with different style lengt..., , , ## Paper: Mismatch between pollen and pistil size causes asymmetric mechanical reproductive isolation across *Phlox* species Authors: Anna F. Feller, Grace Burgin, Nia Lewis, Rohan Prabhu, Robin Hopkins [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fttdz091s](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fttdz091s) This dataset contains the raw data files from experiments (described in detail in the paper) to assess seed set, floral morphology, pollen size, and pollen tube growth in and between six closely related species of *Phlox* flowers, as well as the R code files used to visualize and statistically analyze these data. ## Description of the data and file structure **Data files:** * ids.csv - contains information on all individuals used in the experiments to assess seed set, floral morphology, pollen size, and pollen tube growth * *ID:* individual ID, composed of 'species abbreviation-population number-individual number' * *species*: scientific species name (without the preceding genus name '*Phlox*...解析类群间生殖隔离（reproductive isolation, RI）的机制，是解析新物种形成与维持机制的核心要义。在被子植物中，花生殖器官——花粉与雌蕊——之间的相互作用，是受精前生殖过程的最后一道屏障。因此，花粉-雌蕊互作不仅机制复杂，更是筛选适宜配偶的关键环节。 本研究旨在验证：花柱长度（雌蕊的组成部分）的差异，能否在5种地理分布重叠的多年生福禄考属（*Phlox*）野生花卉之间，构建交配后合子前的机械生殖隔离屏障。我们以3个长花柱物种与2个短花柱物种为材料，开展控制性成对正反杂交实验，以评估杂交成功率（结籽率）。研究发现，相较于同种杂交，异种杂交的结籽率普遍降低，并揭示了不同花柱长度物种间的异种杂交存在显著不对称性…… ## 论文：花粉与雌蕊大小不匹配导致福禄考属（*Phlox*）物种间不对称机械生殖隔离 作者：安娜·F·费勒、格蕾丝·伯金、妮娅·刘易斯、罗汉·普拉布、罗宾·霍普金斯 数据集链接：https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fttdz091s 本数据集包含论文中详细记述的实验原始数据文件，用于评估6个近缘福禄考属（*Phlox*）花卉物种内部及物种间的结籽率、花部形态、花粉大小及花粉管生长情况；同时包含用于可视化与统计分析上述数据的R代码文件。 ### 数据与文件结构说明 **数据文件：** - ids.csv：包含本研究中用于结籽率、花部形态、花粉大小及花粉管生长评估实验的所有个体信息 - *ID*：个体编号，格式为「物种缩写-种群编号-个体编号」 - *species*：物种学名（省略属名*Phlox*……