The presence of heterospecific pollen on stigmas of nectariferous and nectarless orchids and its consequences for their reproductive success

PROTOPLASMA ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 208 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 65-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. M. Neiland ◽  
C. C. Wilcock
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Heterospecific Pollen

Heterospecific pollen deposition is positively associated with reproductive success in a diverse hummingbird‐pollinated plant community

Oikos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Aparecida Lopes ◽  
Pedro Joaquim Bergamo ◽  
Steffani Najara Pinho Queiroz ◽  
Jeff Ollerton ◽  
Thiago Santos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Pollen Deposition ◽  
Heterospecific Pollen ◽  
Heterospecific Pollen Deposition

Pollination and reproductive success in the gynodioecious endemic Thymus loscosii (Lamiaceae)

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Renée Orellana ◽  
Anna Maria Rovira ◽  
Cèsar Blanché ◽  
Maria Bosch
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Seed Quality ◽  
Seed Set ◽  
Pollen Deposition ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Heterospecific Pollen ◽  
Pollen Loads ◽  
Visual Attraction ◽  
Insect Exclusion ◽  
Two Populations

Sexual dimorphism can have implications in the reproductive biology of gynodioecious species, affecting sex fitness. We explored the effects of flower sex on pollination visitation rates and pollinator efficiency in terms of stigmatic pollen loads, as well as on quantitative and qualitative aspects of reproductive success in two populations of Thymus loscosii Willk. (Lamiaceae) endemic to the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. We also assessed the dependence of T. loscosii on insect pollination in both hermaphrodite and female plants by performing an insect exclusion test. Apis mellifera and different species of Bombylidae were the most frequent pollinators (68% of approaches to studied plots and 93% of total visited flowers). Hermaphrodite plants received more visits than female ones, possibly as a response to visual attraction, since flowers of the former are larger. Conspecific pollen deposition was higher on stigmas of hermaphrodite flowers than on those of females; in contrast, female stigmas received more heterospecific pollen loads, notably higher in one population. Despite these differences, seed set from open-pollinated flowers was similar in both sexes and in both populations, and relatively low (around 0.5–1 nutlet per fruiting calyx, on average). Thymus loscosii is self-compatible as it was able to produce seeds by spontaneous selfing, but at very low rates, indicating that it is insect-dependent for pollination. In addition, bagged female flowers also set seeds formed by apomitic mechanisms. In general, seeds from females were slightly heavier and began to germinate earlier and at higher rates than those from hermaphrodites, even those formed by apomixis. These results suggest that female plants enjoy a resource allocation advantage that allows increased seed quality and contributes to the maintenance of gynodioecy.Key words: gynodioecy, pollinator visitation, pollen loads, seed set, sex fitness, Thymus loscosii.

scholarly journals Community level individual-based plant-pollinator networks unveil pollen flow dynamics and plant reproductive success

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Allen-Perkins ◽  
María Hurtado ◽  
David García-Callejas ◽  
Oscar Godoy ◽  
Ignasi Bartomeus
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Individual Plant ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Heterospecific Pollen ◽  
Plant Reproductive Success ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Plant Pollinator

Ecological networks are a widely used tool to understand the dynamics of ecological communities in which plants interact with their pollinator counterparts. However, while most mutualistic networks have been defined at the species level, ecological processes, such as pollination, take place at the individual level. This recognition has led to the development of individual-based networks, yet current approaches only account for individuals of a single plant species due to conceptual and mathematical limitations. Here, we introduce a multilayer framework designed to depict the conspecific and heterospecific pollen flows mediated by floral visitors among plant individuals belonging to different species. Pollen transfer is modeled as a transport-like system, where an ensemble of conspecific plant-pollinator “circuits” are coupled through pollinators. With this physical conceptualization of ecological processes, we investigate how the reproductive success of plant individuals is affected by the overall dynamics of the whole multilayer network (macrostructure), as well as by their local position within the network (mesostructure). To illustrate this multiscale analysis, we apply it to a dataset of nine well-resolved individual plant-pollinator interaction networks from annual plant grasslands. Our results show that the resulting individual-based networks are highly modular, with insect visitors effectively connecting individuals of the same and different plant species. We also obtain empirical evidence that network structure is critical for modulating individual plant reproduction. In particular, the mesoscale level is the best descriptor of plant reproductive success, as it integrates the net effect of local heterospecific and conspecific interactions on seed production of a given individual. We provide a simple, but robust set of metrics to scale down network ecology to functioning properties at the individual level, where most ecological processes take place, hence moving forward the description and interpretation of multitrophic communities across scales.

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