INSTYTUT DENDROLOGII

Dorota Wrońska-Pilarek, Andrzej M. Jagodziński

Intra- and interindividual variability of selected quantitative features of pollen grain morphology based on the example of Rosa canina L. (Rosaceae)

Dendrobiology 2012, vol. 67: 25-39

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Abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the ranges of intra- and interindividual variability on the example of R. canina. For this purpose, four flowers were collected randomly (72 flowers in total)from 18 wild shrubs of R. canina growing in one population in Poznań (Poland)and then, from each flower, 50 correctly formed pollen grains (200 pollen grains per each individual)were selected. Inter- and intraindividual pollen grain variability was characterised based on 3600 pollen grains. They were analysed for seven quantitative features, i.e. length of polar axis (P), equatorial diameter (E), thickness of the exine along the polar axis (Exp), length of ectocolpi (Le) and P/E, Exp/P, and Le/P ratios. Our study revealed highly significant differences among flowers of the particular R. canina individuals with respect to all pollen grain biometrical features. In addition, it showed that the assessment of the full range of variability in pollen grain biometric features within one individual (shrub)was more reliable if we examined several pollen grains from several flowers than for the same number of pollen grains derived from a single flower. We also found statistically significant differences among particular individuals in all pollen grain features. This proves that in order to well characterise a population of a given species from the point of view of palynology, the plant material should derive from a possibly numerous number of individuals (shrubs).

Additional key words: palynology, biometrical analysis, morphological characters, morphological variation