Ecological interactions play a fundamental role in determining the genetic structure of plant species in time and space. The demography of the Andean Puya hamata has been linked to fire regimes and hummingbird behaviour, which might modify the plant’s population genetic structure. Naturally, poor dispersal results in patches of genetically related plants, a pattern intensified further by burning which promotes seedling germination around parent plants. Later, when these plants flower, large patches are attractive to territorial hummingbirds which prevent visits by traplining hummingbird species, carrying pollen from likely unrelated plants. To explore this hypothesis, a genetic study of P. hamata using microsatellite markers was conducted with (i) isolated and grouped adults in two size categories of patches, and (ii) seeds collected from the same patches and isolated individuals. Isolated individual plants presented a higher observed heterozygosity with close to zero inbreeding. Adult plants from large patches showed a lower observed heterozygosity and higher inbreeding than plants from other spatial contexts. Seed genetic structure displayed a gradient of diversity: lower at patch centres but higher at patch edges, in small patches, and for isolated infructescences. The spatial context of these plants, especially the contrast between large patch centres and other situations, determines the genetic diversity of their seeds via hummingbird foraging behaviour. Territorial hummingbirds restrict gene flow in and out of large patches, but traplining hummingbirds maintain genetic diversity among isolated plants, small patches, and plants at the edges of large patches. Our study illustrates the need to consider interactions between land use, plants, and their pollinators when considering genetic diversity at the landscape scale.

中文翻译：

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火势和传粉媒介行为解释了Puya hamata（Bromeliaceae）莲座丛植物的遗传结构

生态相互作用在决定植物物种在时间和空间上的遗传结构中起着根本性的作用。安第斯山脉Puya hamata的人口统计资料与火势和蜂鸟行为有关，这可能会改变植物的种群遗传结构。自然，分散不良会导致遗传相关植物的斑块，这种模式通过燃烧进一步加剧，从而促进了亲本植物周围的幼苗发芽。后来，当这些植物开花时，大片的斑点吸引了蜂鸟，从而阻止了蜂鸟的诱捕，从而阻止了蜂鸟的繁殖，并携带可能来自不相关植物的花粉。为了探索这一假设，对哈密​​瓜体育进行了一项遗传研究。使用微卫星标记，对（i）两个大小类别的斑块中的隔离成群的成虫和（ii）从相同斑块和分离的个体中收集的种子进行了研究。分离出的单个植物表现出更高的杂合度，近交近零。与来自其他空间环境的植物相比，来自大型斑块的成年植物显示出较低的杂合度和较高的近交。种子遗传结构表现出多样性梯度：在斑块中心较低，但在斑块边缘较高，在小斑块中且对于孤立的花序发育。这些植物的空间背景，尤其是大型斑块中心与其他情况之间的对比，决定了它们通过蜂鸟觅食行为而获得的种子遗传多样性。蜂鸟会限制基因流入和流出大型斑块，但是诱捕的蜂鸟在孤立的植物，小斑块和大斑块边缘的植物之间保持遗传多样性。我们的研究表明，在考虑景观尺度的遗传多样性时，需要考虑土地利用，植物及其授粉媒介之间的相互作用。