The effects of florivory and inbreeding on reproduction in hermaphrodites of the wild strawberry, Fragaria virginiana

Recently, the biotic context for sexual and mating system evolution in plants has received special attention, yet the significance of interactions with antagonists has only begun to be revealed. We investigated the effect of florivory on reproduction and inbreeding depression by simulating damage on selfed and outcrossed progeny of hermaphrodites of Fragaria virginiana and recording the response of reproduction, as well as measuring tolerance to florivory. While both florivory and inbreeding affected reproduction, their effects were independent with respect to sexual traits but not an asexual trait; inbreeding depression was florivory- and family-dependent, specifically, for plantlet production. Plants were intolerant to florivory in terms of flowers, moderately tolerant in terms of fruit, and most tolerant in terms of plantlets. However, only under severe damage was intolerance statistically significant. Inbreeding did little to change these patterns. Our findings suggest that florivory does not consistently influence inbreeding depression, but its indirect effects on plantlet production could lead to increased geitonogamous selfing. This, combined with previous work demonstrating increased autogamous selfing following weevil damage and knowledge of the mechanism of sex determination in this system, suggests that damage by weevils could contribute to the maintenance of hermaphrodites in gynodioecious F. virginiana populations