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Cover Caption: Reproductive Isolation in Sympatric Mussaenda
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of integrative plant biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.734
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1744-7909
pISSN - 1672-9072
DOI - 10.1111/jipb.12268
Subject(s) - sympatric speciation , biology , interspecific competition , reproductive isolation , pollen tube , pollination , pollinator , pollen , botany , sexual reproduction , ecology , population , demography , sociology
Reproductive isolation may lead to formation of new species. In this issue, Luo et al. (pp. 859–870) report that principal pollinators between two sympatric sister species of Mussaenda differed strikingly, and interspecific pollination resulted in significantly reduced pollen tube growth rates. These findings strongly suggest that pre‐zygotic isolation plays an important role in limiting gene exchange for species with close phylogenetic relationship. The cover image shows pollen grains germinated on an interspecific stigma.