The distribution of self-incompatibility systems in angiosperms: the relationship between mating system diversity, life span, growth habit and latitude in a changing global environment.

Background And Aims: There is ample theoretical and experimental evidence that angiosperms harbouring self-incompatibility (SI) systems are likely to respond to global changes in unique ways relative to taxa with other mating systems. In this paper, we present an updated database on the prevalence of SI systems across angiosperms and examine the relationship between the presence of SI and latitude, biomes, life-history traits and management conditions to evaluate the potential vulnerability of SI taxa to climate change and habitat disturbance.

Methods: We performed literature searches to identify studies that employed controlled crosses, microscopic analyses and/or genetic data to classify taxa as having SI, self-compatibility (SC), partial self-compatibility (PSC) or self-sterility (SS).