DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k3j9kd5jj
title: Data from: A pan-European citizen science study shows population size, climate and land use are related to biased morph ratios in the heterostylous plant Primula veris

description: The distylous plant Primula veris has long served as a model
 species for studying heterostyly, i.e., the occurrence of multiple floral
 morphs within a population to ensure outcrossing. Habitat loss, reduced
 plant population sizes, and climate change have raised concerns about the
 impact of these factors on morph ratios and the related consequences on
 fitness of heterostylous species. We studied the deviation of
 floral morphs of P. veris from isoplethy (i.e., equal frequency)
 in response to plant population size, landscape context and climatic
 factors, based on a pan-European citizen science campaign involving
 observations from 28 countries. In addition, we examined the relative
 frequency of morphs to determine whether landscape and climatic factors
 disrupt morph frequencies or whether a specific morph has an advantage
 over the other. Theory predicts equal frequencies of short-styled S-morphs
 and long-styled L-morphs in populations at equilibrium. However, data from
 &gt; 3000 populations showed a substantial morph deviation from
 isoplethy and a significant excess (9%) of S-morphs compared to L-morphs.
 Deviation of morph frequency from equilibrium was substantially stronger
 in smaller populations and was not affected by morph identity. Higher
 summer precipitation and land use intensity were associated with an
 increased prevalence of S-morphs. Five populations containing individuals
 exhibiting short homostyle phenotypes (with the style and anthers in low
 positions) were found. Genotyping of the individuals at CYP734A50 gene of
 the S locus, which determines the length of the style and the position of
 anthers of P. veris, revealed no mutations in this region. Our
 results based on an unprecedented geographic sampling suggest that changes
 in land use and climate may be responsible for non-equilibrium morph
 frequencies. This large-scale citizen science initiative sets foundations
 for future studies to clarify whether the unexpected excess of S-morphs is
 due to partial intra-morph compatibility, disruption of heterostyly or
 survival advantage of S-morphs. Synthesis. Human-induced environmental
 change may affect biodiversity indirectly through altering reproductive
 traits, which can also lead to reduced fitness and genetic diversity.
 Further research should consider the possible role of pollinators in
 mediating the ecological and evolutionary consequences of recent landscape
 and climatic shifts on plant reproductive traits.
description: Data on the morph identity of <em>Primula
 veris</em> The dataset of heterostyly (i.e.,
 whether the observed plant was of L- or S-morph; Barrett 2019) was
 collected by volunteer observers within the frames of the pan-European
 citizen science campaign "Looking for Cowslips" that took place
 in 2021 and 2022 (Looking for
 Cowslips). Citizens from the following countries contributed
 data: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark,
 Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,
 Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway,
 Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the
 United Kingdom. Campaign participants were asked to provide information
 about the approximate size of the observed population (Small: some plants,
 up to 100 individuals; Medium: about 100-200 individuals; Large: more than
 200 to thousands) and the morph identity of 100 randomly chosen cowslip
 individuals (fewer in case of small populations) occurring at least 0.5
 meters apart from each other.  Data collected by
 citizen scientists was filtered during several steps: (1) exclusion of
 populations where wrongly identified species were detected based on
 submitted digital photographic material (about 80 % of observations
 included photos of the study species), (2) revision and correction of any
 mistakes in geographical coordinates of the observations performed, (3)
 omission of empty observations or observations with too few observed plant
 individuals (&lt; 10), (4) exclusion of observations with unrealistic
 number of observed plant individuals and low-quality observations, and (5)
 retaining only one of spatially adjacent observations (closer than 100 m)
 in case of those populations, which were submitted together with spatial
 coordinates.  References: Barrett,
 S.C.H. (2019) ‘A most complex marriage arrangement’: recent advances on
 heterostyly and unresolved questions. New Phytologist, 224,
 1051-1067.
description: # **Heterostyly data used in the paper "A pan-European citizen
 science study shows population size, climate and land use are related to
 biased morph ratios in the heterostylous plant *Primula veris*"**
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.k3j9kd5jj](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.k3j9kd5jj) ## Description of the data and file structure The dataset represents information on the morph type of the heterostylous plant species *Primula veris*. It was collected by volunteer observers within the frames of the pan-European citizen science campaign "Looking for Cowslips" that took place in 2021 and 2022 ([Looking for Cowslips](https://cowslip.science/en)). Campaign participants were asked to provide information about the approximate size of the observed population (Small: some plants, up to 100 individuals; Medium: about 100-200 individuals; Large: more than 200 to thousands) and the morph identity of 100 randomly chosen cowslip individuals (fewer in case of small populations) occurring at least 0.5 meters apart from each other. Most participants also uploaded GPS coordinates.  ### Files and variables #### File: Data\_for\_Dryad\_20-12-2024.xlsx **Description:** The file contains a data sheet with 3014 observations submitted by the citizen scientists in 2021 and 2022. In the data sheet, "N/A" denotes cases when specific information, such as the date of data submission on the data submission platform or GPS coordinates, was missing. Location data for populations in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Netherlands has been generalised to two decimal points due to conservation reasons. Exact coordinates for these populations can be given upon reasonable request by contacting the authors. ##### Variables in the data sheet * ID: identification number of the population * Date: date of the observation * Prim_pop_size: categorical population size of the observed *Primula veris* population (small; medium; large) * S_morph: observed number of *Primula veris* individuals with the floral morph of S * L_morph: observed number of *Primula veris* individuals with the flower morph of L * Latitude: latitudinal decimal degrees. Note that the location data for populations in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Netherlands has been generalised to two decimal points due to conservation reasons. Exact coordinates for these populations can be given upon reasonable request by contacting the authors. * Longitude: longitudinal decimal degrees. Note that the location data for populations in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Netherlands has been generalised to two decimal points due to conservation reasons. Exact coordinates for these populations can be given upon reasonable request by contacting the authors. * Country: the country where the observation was done * Sprop: proportion of S-morphs calculated as S/(S+L) * ABSdev: general deviation of morphs from an even morph frequency, i.e., isoplethy calculated as|(S/(S+L))-0.5| Missing data: N/A **Version changes:** In the new version of the uploaded file, the location data (latitude and longitude) for populations in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Netherlands has been generalised to two decimal points due to conservation reasons. The study species is either under protection or very rare in these regions, and generalization of the coordinates was taken as a precautionary measure to avoid harm to those populations. Exact coordinates for these populations can be given upon reasonable request by contacting the authors.