Escaped oilseed rape: Occurrence in the agricultural landscape and potential pollen-mediated gene flow from crop oilseed rape
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2021)631Abstract
To assess the role of feral oilseed rape (OSR) plants as resources for pollinators and avenues for gene flow, we compared occurrence of feral populations in standardized agricultural landscapes, using a landscape ecological approach. The occurrence of feral and volunteer populations was investigated in relation to differences in road length and width, number of OSR fields, and landscape scale. The potential for pollen-mediated gene flow from crop to feral oilseed rape was investigated with fluorescent dye in a field experiment. Moreover, greenhouse estimates of pollen germination rate and pollen tube growth rate were performed to get an indication of siring success in crop and feral plants. Escaped OSR occurred in 14 out of the 16 investigated landscapes, and feral populations were more common alongside large roads than small roads in large-scale landscapes. The number of plants in a habitat ranged from 1-160 individuals, with 1-19 habitats per landscape. In the field experiment with fluorescent dye, no transfer of dye was detected during early flowering in May. At the end of the flowering period in June, transfer of dye was found in 71.4% of the feral plants, showing that significant transfer, most likely by pollinators, occurred from the field to the feral plants. There was no difference in pollen germination rate between crop and feral plants. Pollen tube growth rate was significantly higher in feral oilseed rape than in the crop (P < 0.001). Our results contribute to increased understanding of i) the utilization of feral populations by pollinators in an intensively farmed agricultural landscape, and ii) crop-feral gene flow within OSR.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Tina D'Hertefeldt, Catarina Anderberg Haglund, Jessica Malm, Åsa Lankinen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JPE is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
To assure a broader targeted audience, content will be included into databases (such as EBSCO) and directories (such as DOAJ).