Estimation of the Mating System of Eucalyptus obliqua L'hérit. By Using Allozyme Polymorphisms

Abstract

Seeds from four populations of E. obliqua were assayed for their allozyme genotype at three loci (alcohol dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase and acid phosphatase) as members of open-pollinated arrays to obtain quantitative estimates of three mating system parameters. These were (i) the pro- portion of seed derived from self-pollination as distinct from the proportion randomly outcrossed, (ii) the allele frequency in the pollen, and (iii) the within-population heterogeneity for the frequency of detectable outcrosses. The rate of selfing varied between loci and populations, but overall suggested that up to 24% of viable seed may derive from self-fertilization. This level of partial self-fertilization, together with local variation in the mating system, yielded an observed average inbreeding coefficient (Wright's fixation index) of 0.123 for these loci. In addition, the populations showed substantial differences in gene frequency at each locus. The statistical techniques appropriate for the analysis of open-pollinated progeny arrays are given in an appendix.