The breeding system and its consequence on fruit set of Eremosparton songoricum(Litv.) Vass.,a rare shrubby legume occurring in moving or semi-fixed sand dunes of Central Asian deserts,were examined by manipulative experiments and observational studies in natural populations during the period of 2007-2009.The results showed that E.songoricum exhibits a mixed mating system.It is self-compatible,but depends strictly on pollinators to set fruits.Only two effective pollinators were detected and they triggered the specialized pollination mechanism(a 'brush type' and 'tripping mechanism').Geitonogamy becomes predominant in natural populations,because(74.5±1.3)% of visiting activity happened within or between inflorescences and(24.3±1.4)% occurred between ramets.As a result,inbreeding depression caused by geitonogamous selfing inevitably happened under natural conditions,showing 2.36 times less fruit set than was achieved by hand cross-pollination.The results explained the rarity of the species due to its breeding system,and will assist to develop suitable conservation strategies in severe desert environments.
DaoYuan ZHANGXiang SHIJianCheng WANGHuiLiang LIUJohn F GASKIN
Corispermum is one of the most problematic taxonomic genera in Chenopodiaceae.To understand the phylogeny and infrageneric variation of Corispermum,we sequenced the nuclear ribosomal ITS region and two chloroplast DNA regions(rbcL and psbB-psbH) of 22 species and three varieties of Corispermum and the related genus Agriophyllum.Several representative species of Salsola,Suaeda,Chenopodium,Kalidium and Camphorosma served as outgroups.Our phylogenetic trees confirm that the tribe Corispermeae is monophyletic,Corispermum and Agriophyllum have a close relationship.Corispermum is demonstrated to be monophyletic,and contains at least four clades which,consequently,are served as the foundation of the infrageneric sectional variation of Corispermum,in terms of a combination of molecular data and morphological characters.The evolution of morphological characters for fruit wing and apex,two important characters in generic classification,is consistent with the sectional division of Corispermum,especially to the East Asian and Chinese taxa.
JuanJuan XUE1,2,MingLi ZHANG1,3* 1 Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Urumqi 830011,China
