The contribution of pollen mediated gene flow in demographic stability is largely dependent on how far pollen can be dispersed, as well as how this dispersal affects the mating in breeding individuals. In this study patterns of pollen dispersal and mating systems in Rhizophora racemosa populations of the Cameroon Estuary complex (CEC) were assessed from 29 adult trees with their progeny seedlings (i.e., 483 propagules), sampled from three plots. Using progeny arrays constructed from eight microsatellite markers, we employed two-generational analyses to assess pollen pool structure, pollen dispersal distances, and mating systems. We found mean number of sires contributing to the pollen pool of a mother tree was low (2–3) and pollen dispersal distances were short (<12 m). Male gametic divergence among siblings was moderate (0.158 ≤ Φ_ft ≤ 0.277). Low biparental inbreeding rates and moderate multi-locus outcrossing rates (0.559–0.650), suggest a mixed mating system comprising of spontaneous selfing (geitonogamy) and outcrossing. Our results show that pollen dispersal does not contribute to among patch genetic connectivity since the spatial scales of the patches far exceeds estimated pollen dispersal distances; indicating high gene flow previously reported within the CEC is predominantly mediated by propagule dispersal.

花粉介导的基因流在人口统计稳定性中的贡献在很大程度上取决于花粉可以分散多远，以及这种分散如何影响育种个体的交配。在这项研究中，Rhizophora racemosa的花粉扩散和交配系统模式喀麦隆河口综合体（CEC）的种群是从29棵成年树中评估而来的，它们的后代幼苗（即483个繁殖体）从三个样地中取样。使用由八个微卫星标记构建的后代阵列，我们采用了两代分析来评估花粉池结构，花粉扩散距离和交配系统。我们发现，贡献到母树花粉池中的平均父本数量少（2-3），花粉散布距离短（<12 m）。兄弟姐妹之间的雄性配子差异为中度（0.158≤  Φ_英尺 ≤0.277）。双亲近交率低，多位点异位杂交率中等（0.559-0.650），表明混合交配系统包括自发自交（基因配子体）和异位杂交。我们的研究结果表明，由于斑块的空间尺度远远超过了估计的花粉散布距离，花粉散布对斑块的遗传连通性没有贡献。这表明以前在CEC中报道的高基因流量主要是由繁殖体传播介导的。