Early reproductive failure increases nectar production and pollination success of late flowers in south Andean Alstroemeria aurea

Oecologia ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana H. Ladio ◽  
Marcelo A. Aizen
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Bogdziewicz ◽  
Michael A. Steele ◽  
Shealyn Marino ◽  
Elizabeth E. Crone

Highly variable, synchronized seed production, called masting, is a widespread reproductive strategy in plants. Resource dynamics, pollination success, and, as described here, environmental veto, are possible proximate mechanisms of masting. We extended the resource budget model of masting with correlated and uncorrelated reproductive failure, and ran this model across its parameters space. Next, we parametrized the model based on a 16-year seed production data for red (Quercus rubra) and white (Q. alba) oaks. Simulations showed that resource dynamics and reproduction failure produce masting even in the absence of pollen coupling. In concordance, in both species, among-year variation in resource gain and correlated reproductive failure were necessary and sufficient to produce masting. Environmental variation is a form of reproduction failure caused by environmental veto that may drive large-scale synchronization without density-dependent pollen limitation. Reproductive-inhibiting weather events are prevalent in ecosystems, suggesting that these described mechanisms likely operate in many masting systems.


2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yehoram Leshem ◽  
Tamar Keasar ◽  
Avi Shmida

Flowering progresses upward along vertical inflorescences in the protandrous dichogamous shrub Salvia hierosolymitana (Boiss.). Flowers’ gender nectar production rates and their vertical distribution were recorded in two populations (northern and central Israel) over 3 years. Female-phase flowers produced significantly more nectar than male-phase flowers and were more abundant at the inflorescences’ base. Thus, nectar availability gradually decreases along inflorescences. Female-biased nectar production can benefit plants by increasing pollinator visits to female-phase flowers, enhancing pollination success when pollen is scarce. In congruence with this hypothesis, the following observations suggest that pollen in S. hierosolymitana may be in short supply: (1) freshly dehisced anthers contained 40% of sterile pollen; (2) pollen counts on female-phase stigmas were low (mean ± s.e. 11.6 ± 1.56); and (3) counts of germinated pollen tubes at the pistils’ base were even lower (5.02 ± 0.54). The nectar gradient along the inflorescence may also be adaptively beneficial in other aspects. Foraging insects that follow this gradient are expected to move from female-phase flowers near the inflorescences’ base, to male-phase flowers closer to the top. Thus, reducing the risk of geitonogamy and promoting outcrossing while moving from male-phase flowers of one individual to female-phase flowers of another.


Crop Science ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon D. Waller ◽  
F. D. Wilson ◽  
Joseph H. Martin

2020 ◽  
Vol 181-182 ◽  
pp. 104877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc D. Romano ◽  
Heather M. Renner ◽  
Kathy J. Kuletz ◽  
Julia K. Parrish ◽  
Timothy Jones ◽  
...  
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2021 ◽  
pp. 100175
Author(s):  
Luiz Carlos Bordin ◽  
Danielle Gava ◽  
Karina Sonalio ◽  
Marina L. Mechler-Dreibi ◽  
Janice Reis Ciacci Zanella ◽  
...  
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