ABSTRACT
In 1955 a seminal paper entitled “Self-compatibility and establishment after ‘long distance’ dispersal” appeared in the journal Evolution. With self-incompatible taxa, however, Herbert G. Baker, a young botanist at the University of Ghana argued that establishment of a new breeding population required, at the minimum, the arrival of two propagules at roughly the same time and same place, as well as the previous establishment of the appropriate pollinator. Baker’s law predicts that self-compatible taxa will be favored in establishment after long-distance dispersal particularly if they do not require the services of a pollinator to effect self-fertilization. The chapter discusses the relevance of Baker's Law to plant ecology and to point out fruitful areas for future research in this topic. Baker's law predicts that self-incompatible taxa will be disadvantaged in island colonization. G. L. Stebbins justified that the concept met the criteria of being original with Baker, explaining widely occurring patterns and correlations, and being useful in guiding future studies.
