A tale of three morphs: Nectar, reproductive compatibility, and morph abundance explain reproductive success within a polymorphic ginger from Western Ghats, India

## Dataset title A tale of three morphs: Nectar, reproductive compatibility, and morph abundance explain reproductive success within a polymorphic ginger from Western Ghats, India ## Authors Saket Shrotri and Vinita Gowda ## Related publication Shrotri, S. and Gowda, V. A tale of three morphs: Nectar, reproductive compatibility, and morph abundance explain reproductive success within a polymorphic ginger from Western Ghats, India. AoB PLANTS. Manuscript ID: AOBP-2025-152.R2. ## Dataset overview This archive contains the data and R analysis code associated with the above manuscript. The study examines bract-colour polymorphism in the ginger species *Curcuma caulina* from the Western Ghats, India. The dataset includes measurements of bract-colour morph abundance, floral and vegetative morphology, nectar reward, nocturnal pollinator visitation, reproductive compatibility, and natural/open pollination outcomes. The accompanying R script contains the code used for data visualization and statistical analyses reported in the manuscript. ## Files included 1. `AOBP-2025-152.R2_dataset(1).xlsx` Excel workbook containing the dataset used for the manuscript. The workbook is organized into six worksheets: - `Morphometry` - `Abundance` - `PVR` - `Nectar` - `Physiological compatibility` - `Natural pollination` 2. `AOBP-2025-152.R2_all_codes.R` R script containing code for plotting and statistical analyses, including morph abundance, nMDS/ANOSIM, pollinator visitation rates, nectar traits, reproductive compatibility, natural pollination outcomes, and path analysis/structural equation modelling. ## General terminology and abbreviations - *Curcuma caulina*: study species.- FCP: floral/bract colour polymorphism.- GW: Green-White morph.- GR: Green-Red morph.- RW: Red-White morph.- PVR: pollinator visitation rate.- KAS: Kaas plateau - study population.- Morph: operational bract-colour morph category or type.- Variant / variant_id: bract-colour variant based on the approximate percentage of reddish-pink colour on the first or basal lateral bract.- Male: pollen donor morph in hand-pollination treatments.- Female: pollen recipient morph in hand-pollination treatments.- Success: fruiting outcome in hand-pollination treatments. ## Worksheet descriptions and variables ### 1. `Morphometry` This sheet contains floral and vegetative morphometric measurements used to compare morphological variation among bract-colour variants/morphs. Variables:- `Population`: population/site code.- `variant_id`: bract-colour variant identity, based on percentage red colour on the first lateral bract.- `plant_height`: plant height.- `inflo_len`: inflorescence length.- `col_lat_br`: colour of the lateral bract.- `flo_col`: flower colour category/code.- `no_coma_br`: number of coma bracts.- `no_lat_br`: number of lateral bracts.- `no_open_flo`: number of open flowers.- `cincinni`: number of cincinni.- `flo_tub_len`: floral tube length.- `curling_lab`: categorical score/observation for labellum curling. ### 2. `Abundance` This sheet contains field census data on the natural abundance of bract-colour variants. Variables:- `Population`: population/site code.- `Variant`: bract-colour variant, expressed as approximate percentage of reddish-pink colour on the first lateral bract.- `Natural_abundance`: count of individuals of that variant recorded in the field census plot. ### 3. `PVR` This sheet contains nocturnal pollinator visitation observations. Variables:- `Population`: population/site code.- `Date_cam`: camera observation date.- `Observer`: observer initials.- `Time_seq`: sequential code for time used for hourly observation intervals.- `Time`: hourly observation interval.- `Morph_type`: bract-colour morph observed.- `Visits`: number of pollinator visits recorded.- `Visitation_rate`: pollinator visitation rate, calculated as visits per flower per hour. ### 4. `Nectar` This sheet contains nectar measurements from flowers of the three bract-colour morphs. Variables:- `Population`: population/site code.- `Morph`: bract-colour morph.- `Volume`: nectar volume per flower.- `Concentration`: nectar concentration, measured as sucrose concentration/Brix.- `Energy`: nectar energy per flower, calculated from nectar volume and concentration. ### 5. `Physiological compatibility` This sheet contains data from hand-pollination experiments. It has two data blocks. Block 1: summary of fruiting success by treatment and morph combination. Variables:- `Category`: pollination treatment category, e.g. autogamy, self-pollination, intra-morph cross-pollination, or inter-morph cross-pollination.- `Pair`: morph pair or treatment pair.- `Male`: pollen donor morph.- `Female`: pollen recipient morph.- `Attempts`: number of flowers used in the treatment.- `Unsuccessful`: number of flowers that did not set fruit.- `Successful`: number of flowers that set fruit.- `% success`: percentage fruiting success.- `Success_round`: rounded percentage fruiting success. Block 2: individual-level hand-pollination records and seed counts. Variables:- `Category`: pollination treatment category.- `Male`: pollen donor morph.- `Female`: pollen recipient morph.- `Success`: fruiting outcome, recorded as successful or unsuccessful.- `Number of seeds`: number of seeds counted in the fruit; zero indicates unsuccessful fruit set or no seeds. ### 6. `Natural pollination` This sheet contains open/natural pollination records. Variables:- `Population`: population/site code.- `Morph`: bract-colour morph.- `Lateral bracts`: number of lateral bracts in the inflorescence.- `cincinii`: number of cincinni recorded.- `Fruits`: number of fruits recorded.- `Success_rate`: fruit-set success rate, calculated from the number of fruits relative to estimated flower number. ## R code overview The R script `AOBP-2025-152.R2_all_codes.R` includes code for: 1. Plotting natural abundance of bract-colour variants and testing differences among variants.2. nMDS and ANOSIM analyses of morphometric data.3. Plotting and testing pollinator visitation rates.4. Plotting and testing nectar energy, volume, and concentration.5. Plotting and testing reproductive compatibility and seed-count data from hand-pollination treatments.6. Testing natural pollination outcomes.7. Path analysis/structural equation modelling using the `lavaan` package. ## R packages Analyses were conducted in R. The analysis script uses the following R packages: - `BiodiversityR`- `DiagrammeRsvg`- `dplyr`- `dunn.test`- `extrafont`- `ggforce`- `ggplot2`- `ggpubr`- `ggrepel`- `ggsci`- `lavaan`- `lavaanPlot`- `readxl`- `semPlot`- `vegan` Some package calls may be optional depending on which sections of the script are run. ## Reproducibility notes To reproduce analyses: 1. Download all files in this Zenodo archive.2. Open R or RStudio.3. Set the working directory to the folder containing the downloaded files.4. Open `AOBP-2025-152.R2_all_codes.R`.5. Run the code section by section. The R script was written as an analysis workflow and contains some file names and object names from the original working directory. If running the script directly, users may need to either:- export the relevant Excel sheets as CSV files with the names expected in the script, or- modify the commands to read directly from `AOBP-2025-152.R2_dataset.xlsx`. Input file names referenced in the script include:- `Nectar.csv`- `RAW_caulina_all_pop_morpho_May2023.csv`- `RAW_caulina_all_pop_morpho_May2023_no_variantID.csv`- `Vis_rate.csv`- `Path analysis_SEM_data_Nov 2024.xlsx` ## Data collection location The main study population is located at Kaas plateau, Western Ghats, India. Other population/site codes may appear in some sheets for comparative or supplementary records. ## Recommended citation for this dataset Shrotri, S. and Gowda, V. 2026. Data and code for: A tale of three morphs: Nectar, reproductive compatibility, and morph abundance explain reproductive success within a polymorphic ginger from Western Ghats, India. Zenodo. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20630411 ## License Recommended license for public deposition: CC BY 4.0, unless a different license is selected by the authors during Zenodo submission. ## Contact For questions about the dataset or code, please contact the corresponding author listed in the associated publication.