Partial selfing, ecological disturbance and reproductive assurance in an invasive freshwater snail.

Although reproductive assurance (RA) might play a central role in the evolution of the selfing rate, this hypothesis has never been seriously investigated in an hermaphroditic animal. We studied the mating system of the freshwater snail Physa acuta in which the availability of mating partners might be highly variable, because this species is an efficient colonizer occupying unstable habitats. A total of 11 populations differing in ecological disturbance regime (water level, openness) and snail densities were monitored over 2 years. The outcrossing rate was estimated in ca 10 families per population using microsatellite markers and the progeny-array approach. Components of fecundity and survival were recorded for each progeny. Predominant outcrossing (t(m)=0.94) was detected, with a few individuals (4%) purely selfing. The outcrossing rate did not explain among-family variation in fitness components. None of the predictions formulated under the RA hypothesis were verified: (i) selfing was related neither to disturbed habitats, nor to temporal density fluctuations, (ii) it was positively related to population density, (iii) it co-occurred with multiple paternity, and (iv) it did not induce delayed reproduction. Explanations for these negative results are discussed in light of other arguments supporting the RA hypothesis in P. acuta, as well as alternative theories explaining the occurrence of partial selfing, as either a genetically fixed or plastic trait.