The compounding effects of high pollen limitation, selfing rates and inbreeding XXXX leave a New Zealand tree with few viable offspring.

@entity308 @entity6159
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Interactions between species are especially sensitive to environmental changes. The interaction between plants and pollinators is of particular interest given the potential current global decline in pollinators. Reduced pollinator services can be compensated for in some plant species by self-pollination. However, if inbreeding @entity308 is high, selfed progeny could die prior to reaching adulthood, leading to @entity6159 recruitment failure. METHODS: To examine this scenario, pollinator abundance, pollen limitation, selfing rates and inbreeding @entity308 were examined in 12 populations of varying disturbance levels in Sophora microphylla (Fabaceae), an endemic New Zealand tree species. KEY RESULTS: High pollen limitation was found in all populations (average of 58  % reduction in seed production, nine populations), together with high selfing rates (61  % of offspring selfed, six populations) and high inbreeding @entity308 (selfed offspring 86  % less fit, six populations). Pollen limitation was associated with lower visitation rates by the two endemic bird pollinators. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that for these populations, over half of the seeds produced are genetically doomed. This reduction in the fitness of progeny due to reduced pollinator service is probably important to population dynamics of other New Zealand species. More broadly, the results suggest that measures of seed production or seedling densities may be a gross overestimate of the effective offspring production. This could lead to @entity6159 recruitment failure, i.e. a decline in successful reproduction despite high progeny production. Given the global extent of pollinator declines, @entity6159 recruitment failure may be widespread.
