Beyond hand-pollinations: Linking pollen limitation to plant population biology

Pollen sufficiency is an important determinant of plant reproductive success, and thus a major driver in plant ecology and evolution. Despite hundreds of empirical studies addressing the causes and consequences of pollen limitation, we lack a quantitative synthesis. Our working group will bring together evolutionary biologists, pollination ecologists, plant demographers, and theoreticians to produce new insight into the ecological and evolutionary significance of pollen limitation. We will 1) use contemporary theory as a framework for synthesis (via meta-analysis) of published and unpublished empirical data to determine the ecological attributes that are generally associated with pollen limitation, and 2) develop new theory that integrates pollen limitation with plant modularity, resource allocation and perenniality, as well as with plant demography, population growth rates and time to extinction.