Fuente: PubMed "pollination" Plants (Basel). 2026 May 20;15(10):1555. doi: 10.3390/plants15101555.ABSTRACTThe steno-endemic Verbascum rupicola faces a precarious future due to its extreme habitat specialization on tectonically active hydrothermal quartz veins. This study presents a long-term assessment based on periodic population censuses spanning 18 years (2007, 2016, and 2025) to assess the demographic and spatial trends of its global population in the Tahtalı Dam basin, Türkiye. Field surveys, GIS-based habitat mapping, and controlled pollination experiments were integrated with seed germination kinetics and ex situ cultivation trials. Results reveal a precipitous 69.12% global population decline, primarily driven by a 33.41% habitat loss from agricultural expansion in 2011 and the total extirpation of three sub-populations by a major wildfire in 2017. Furthermore, a "reproductive squeeze" was identified, where climate-induced reductions in flower production (18.87%) are compounded by intensifying floral predation by Pieris rapae. Reproductive analysis revealed random monomorphic enantiostyly-reported for the first time in the genus-which functions as a flexible mating system prioritizing outcrossing while providing reproductive assurance. Despite high intrinsic seed viability (69.12%), ex situ cultivation largely failed (3.5% survival; 1 out of 28 transplanted individuals), underscoring the species' obligate chasmophytic nature. Consequently, V. rupicola meets the criteria for Critically Endangered (CR) status, necessitating urgent "micro-reserve" protection of its remaining habitat and in situ restoration efforts.PMID:42197689 | PMC:PMC13210554 | DOI:10.3390/plants15101555