DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22n6
title: Among-individual variation in flowering phenology affects flowering synchrony and mating opportunity

description: Premise of the study: The timing and pattern of a plant’s flowering can
 have important consequences for reproductive success. Variation in
 flowering phenology may influence the number of prospective mates, the
 risk of mating with lower quality individuals, and the likelihood of
 self-pollination. Here we use a common garden experiment to explore
 within- and among-population variation in phenology. Our work provides new
 insights into how flowering phenology shapes mating opportunity and
 flowering synchrony in a self-compatible perennial. Methods: To quantify
 variation in flowering phenology we raised progeny from nine populations
 of Mimulus ringens in a common garden. For each individual, we measured
 phenological traits including age at flowering onset, daily floral display
 size, total flower number, and flowering synchrony with other members of
 the population, and related these traits to mating opportunity. We also
 tested how individual flowering schedules influence the magnitude of
 synchrony. Key Results: Flowering phenology and synchrony varied
 substantially within and among populations. From day to day, plants often
 oscillated between large and small daily floral displays. Additionally,
 flowering schedules of individual plants strongly influenced flowering
 synchrony and, along with the number of flowering days, markedly affected
 plants’ mating opportunity. Conclusions: Phenological traits such as
 flowering synchrony can affect the quantity of mating opportunities and
 may be important targets of natural selection. Our results highlight the
 need for studies that quantify flowering patterns of individuals as well
 as populations.
description: # Among-individual variation in flowering phenology affects flowering
 synchrony and mating opportunity
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22n6](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22n6) Data set containing phenology data for 341 individuals from 9 populations of *Mimulus ringens* in a common garden. ## Description of the data and file structure Column descriptions: Unless otherwise specified, a value of NA indicates a missing value. block: either 1 and 2; plants in block 1 were maternal siblings of plants in block 2. population: ECM, HBP, LEB, LIB, LNB, MCW, MSB, RIS, or STR; code refers to population from which the seeds used in this experiment were collected. family\_id: number refers to unique ID of maternal plant from which experimental plants were collected as seeds. age\_fl\_onset: the age, in days since sowing, that a plant opened its first flower. disp\_dayXXX: column names refer to julian date (185-222) on which the number of open flowers were counted, hereafter called census dates. Data are the number of flowers in a plant's floral display (0 or greater) on each census date. For these columns, cells containing NA indicate census dates before a plants' first day of flowering or after its last day of flowering. age\_last\_fl: the the age, in days since sowing, that a plant opened its last flower.n\_census\_days: the number of census days occurring during a plant's flowering period. n\_fl\_days: the number of census days when a non-zero display size was counted. n\_nonfl\_days: the number of census days when a display size of zero was recorded (which occurred during a plant's flowering period). duration: the number of days from the day of first flowering to the day of last flowering. mean\_disp: the mean of all non-zero censused display sizes. fl\_overlap: flowering overlap; the synchrony index calculated according to Augspurger (1983). dep\_synch: deployment synchrony; the synchrony index calculated according to Marquis (1988). mat\_opp: the number of opportunities an individual had to mate. n\_tot\_fl: the total number of flowers an individual produced across the season. biomass: dry weight of above-ground biomass excluding fruits, to nearest 0.01 gram.