bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.05.184267; this version posted July 6, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Self-incompatibility limits sexual reproduction rather than environmental conditions in an invasive aquatic plant Short title: Sexual success in invasive populations of Ludwigia Luis O. PORTILLO LEMUS1, Michel BOZEC1, Marilyne HARANG1, Julie COUDREUSE 1, Jacques HAURY1, Solenn STOECKEL 2, Dominique BARLOY1 1 ESE, Ecology and Ecosystem Health, Institut Agro, INRAE, 35042, Rennes, France 2 IGEPP, INRAE, Institut Agro, Univ Rennes, 35653, Le Rheu, France Corresponding author:
[email protected] Summary: 1 Fruitfulness and fertility are important components of sexual reproductive success in plants, and often depends on environmental conditions and reproductive systems. For invasive plants, fruitfulness and fertility control their ecological success and adaptation in invaded ecosystems. We studied which factors bring about fruitfulness and fertility in invasive populations of the aquatic plant Ludwigia grandiflora subsp. hexapetala. 2 We analysed fruitfulness and fertility of 37 populations growing under variable climatic conditions in Western Europe, and sub-sampled fruitful and fruitless bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.05.184267; this version posted July 6, 2020. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. populations grown in common controlled conditions. We carried out self- and cross- pollinations and measured their floral biometrics. 3 Environmental conditions, and temperature in particular, did not affect fruitfulness and fertility in-situ or in common controlled environments.