Effects of flower production and predispersal seed predation on reproduction in Cirsium purpuratum

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuharu Ohashi ◽  
Tetsukazu Yahara
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Seed Predation ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Production Plant ◽  
Flower Number ◽  
Flower Production ◽  
Plant Reproductive Success ◽  
Predispersal Seed Predation ◽  
Animal Interaction ◽  
Mature Seeds

Researchers have often assumed that the reproductive success of a plant increases with flower production. However, if predispersal seed predation also increases with flower production, this may counteract the increase in reproductive success expected with such increased flower production. To investigate this, we examined the effect of flower number and predispersal seed predation on seed production in two field populations of Cirsium purpuratum (Maxim.) Matsum. At both sites, the proportion of seeds or heads preyed upon per plant increased with the number of flowers (florets or heads) on each plant, while the proportion of mature seeds per plant was independent of flower number per plant. Based on these results, we predicted that an increased level of seed predation at the population level would reduce the annual flower production of each plant. The observed pattern of flower production supported this prediction. Our results suggest that increased flower production may not always improve plant reproductive success under the influence of predispersal seed predation.Key words: plant reprodutive success, predispersal seed predation, Cirsium purpuratum, flower production, plant-animal interaction.

Disentangling the effects of foliar vs. floral herbivory of leaf-cutting ants on the plant reproductive success of Miconia nervosa (Smith) Triana (Family Melastomataceae)

2019 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-83
Author(s):  
T. Câmara ◽  
X. Arnan ◽  
V.S. Barbosa ◽  
R. Wirth ◽  
L. Iannuzzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Fruit Set ◽  
Reproductive Organs ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Floral Herbivory ◽  
Flower Production ◽  
Plant Reproductive Success ◽  
Leaf Cutting ◽  
Leaf Herbivory

AbstractFlower and leaf herbivory might cause relevant and negative impacts on plant fitness. While flower removal or damage by florivores produces direct negative effects on plant fitness, folivores affect plant fitness by reducing resource allocation to reproduction. In this study, we examine the effects of both flower and leaf herbivory by leaf-cutting ants on the reproductive success of the shrub species Miconia nervosa (Smith) Triana (Family Melastomataceae) in a fragment of Atlantic Forest in Northeast Brazil. We conducted a randomized block-designed field experiment with nine replicates (blocks), in which three plants per block were assigned to one of the three following treatments: undamaged plants (ant exclusion), leaf-damaged plants (ant exclusion from reproductive organs, but not from leaves), and flower + leaf-damaged plants (no exclusion of ants). We then measured flower production, fruit set, and fruit production. Our results showed that flower + leaf-damaged plants reduced flower production nearly twofold in relation to undamaged plants, while flower set in leaf-damaged plants remained constant. The number of flowers that turned into fruits (i.e., fruit set), however, increased by 15% in flower + leaf-damaged plants, while it slightly decreased in leaf-damaged compared to undamaged plants. Contrastingly, fruit production was similar between all treatments. Taken together, our results suggest a prominent role of ant floral herbivory across different stages of the reproductive cycle in M. nervosa, with no consequences on final fruit production. The tolerance of M. nervosa to leaf-cutting ant herbivory might explain its high abundance in human-modified landscapes where leaf-cutting ants are hyper-abundant.

Individual crop size increases predispersal predation by beetles in a tropical palm

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Morgana Maria Arcanjo Bruno ◽  
Klécia Gili Massi ◽  
Alexander V. Christianini ◽  
John du Vall Hay
Keyword(s):  
Seed Predation ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Reproductive Phenology ◽  
Individual Plant ◽  
Crop Size ◽  
Seed Predators ◽  
Plant Trait ◽  
Predispersal Seed Predation ◽  
Total Seed ◽  
Number Of Seeds

Abstract Predispersal seed predation is one of the main causes of seed mortality in plant populations, contributing to decreased plant recruitment. Seed loss has previously been found to be related to crop size. Thus, we examined the influence of individual crop size on predispersal seed predation by beetles in the palm Syagrus flexuosa in the Brazilian savanna. The study was carried out in three tropical woodland savanna sites, where we sampled the total seed crop of 46 fruiting palms and checked the presence of beetle larvae inside all seeds per plant. We observed predispersal seed predation of S. flexuosa from all sites and a high variation in the number of seeds preyed on per individual palm. Crop size had a positive influence on the number of seeds lost to predispersal seed predators. Variations in levels of predispersal seed predation may also be accounted for by the reproductive phenology of S. flexuosa. If fruits are not available at the same time, less resource is available for predators and therefore a high proportion of seeds may be preyed on. Thus, our study demonstrates that an individual plant trait, crop size, is an important predictor of beetle seed damage per palm and a driver of the number of seeds lost to predispersal seed predators.

Factors affecting pollinator visitation and reproductive success in Sonneratia caseolaris and Aegiceras corniculatum in a mangrove forest in India

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHALINI PANDIT ◽  
B. C. CHOUDHURY
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Mangrove Forest ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Aegiceras Corniculatum ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Plant Reproductive Success ◽  
Sonneratia Caseolaris ◽  
Exclusion Experiments ◽  
Selfing Species

Pollinator visitation to, and the reproductive success of, Sonneratia caseolaris (Sonneratiaceae) and Aegiceras corniculatum (Myrsinaceae) was investigated in a mangrove forest in India. S. caseolaris was shown to be primarily outcrossed and A. corniculatum was shown to be a selfing species. The flowers of both plant species attracted several diurnal and nocturnal visitors. Earlier reports had indicated that S. caseolaris flowered for one night and was exclusively night-pollinated. But flowers of this species were found to be in bloom both at night and during the day, and diurnal visitors to the flowers were more diverse and frequent than nocturnal ones. This was related to the higher volume and energy value of nectar in the morning. The effects of time of day and temperature on visitation rates were quantified. The importance of visitors to plant reproductive success was investigated via controlled visitor-exclusion experiments. Pollinators were expected to be more important for the outcrossing species than for the selfing species, and this was confirmed by the results of the exclusion experiments. In S. caseolaris reproductive success was determined both by pollinator availability and the intensity of flower and fruit predation, while in A. corniculatum it is likely to be resource limited.

An early transient water deficit reduces flower number and pod production but increases seed size in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 481 ◽  
Author(s):  
X.-W. Fang ◽  
N. C. Turner ◽  
F.-M. Li ◽  
K. H. M. Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Water Deficit ◽  
Cicer Arietinum ◽  
Seed Size ◽  
Seed Yield ◽  
Flower Number ◽  
Cicer Arietinum L ◽  
Flower Production ◽  
Terminal Drought ◽  
Seed Growth

Terminal drought is known to decrease flower production, increase flower and pod abortion, and decrease yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), but the effects of early-season drought have not been evaluated. The influence of an early transient water deficit on flower and pod production and abortion, and seed yield and its components was evaluated in two chickpea cultivars, Rupali, a desi type, and Almaz, a kabuli type. Thirty-six-day-old plants were subjected to: (i) a transient water deficit by withholding water for 35 days, and then rewatered (WS), and (ii) kept well watered (WW) throughout. In the WS treatment the soil water content, leaf relative water content and leaf photosynthetic rate decreased after water was withheld and, following rewatering, recovered to the WW level. Despite the WS treatment being imposed at different phenological stages in the two cultivars, WS reduced flower number per plant by ~50% in Rupali and Almaz, respectively, compared with the WW plants. In WW plants, ~15% of flowers aborted in both cultivars, and 42 and 67% of the pods aborted in Rupali and Almaz, respectively, whereas in WS plants, 18 and 23% of flowers aborted and 27 and 67% of pods aborted in Rupali and Almaz, respectively. While seed growth in WS plants of Rupali and Almaz occurred primarily after the plants were rewatered, the duration of seed growth decreased by 17 and 36 days, the maximum rate of seed filling increased by 3 times and 5 times, and seed size increased by 26 and 16%, respectively, compared with the WW plants. Seed yield per plant in WS plants decreased by 31% in Rupali and 38% in Almaz compared with the WW controls. The early transient water deficit decreased flower production, but improved flower and pod development; increased the rate of seed growth and increased final seed size; and had a smaller effect on seed yield compared with chickpea subjected to terminal drought.

Reproductive success of wind, generalist, and specialist pollinated plant species following wildfire in desert landscapes

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 1030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew H. Lybbert ◽  
Justin Taylor ◽  
Alysa DeFranco ◽  
Samuel B. St Clair
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Mojave Desert ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Generalist Species ◽  
Plant Reproductive Success ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Specialist Species

Wildfire can drastically affect plant sexual reproductive success in plant–pollinator systems. We assessed plant reproductive success of wind, generalist and specialist pollinated plant species along paired unburned, burned-edge and burned-interior locations of large wildfires in the Mojave Desert. Flower production of wind and generalist pollinated plants was greater in burned landscapes than adjacent unburned areas, whereas specialist species responses were more neutral. Fruit production of generalist species was greater in burned landscapes than in unburned areas, whereas fruit production of wind- and specialist-pollinated species showed no difference in burned and unburned landscapes. Plants surviving in wildfire-disturbed landscapes did not show evidence of pollination failure, as measured by fruit set and seed:ovule ratios. Generalist- and specialist-plant species established in the interior of burned landscapes showed no difference in fruit production than plants established on burned edges suggesting that pollination services are conserved with increasing distance from fire boundaries in burned desert landscapes. Stimulation of plant reproduction in burned environments due to competition release may contribute to the maintenance of pollinator services and re-establishment of the native plant community in post-fire desert environments.

Reproductive phenology of sympatric taxa of Chamaecrista (Leguminosae) in Serra do Cipó, Brazil

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
João A. Madeira ◽  
G. Wilson Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Seed Predation ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Plant Architecture ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Reproductive Phenology ◽  
Biotic Factors ◽  
Selective Force ◽  
Monthly Average ◽  
Serra Do Cipó ◽  
Mature Seeds

Reproductive phenology of 13 sympatric taxa of Chamaecrista in three sections was surveyed at Serra do Cipó, south-east Brazil. Mean abundance of flowers and fruits per plant and mean number of aborted, predated, and surviving seeds per fruit were estimated. Monthly average number of developed seeds per fruit multiplied by the monthly mean number of fruits per plant gave the monthly average number of seeds produced by a plant of each taxon. Five types of phenological behaviour were differentiated by cluster analyses according to the season during which each species produced most of its mature seeds. This behaviour was related to the taxonomic section to which the taxa belong, to plant architecture, to geographical range, to seed predation and to local climatic seasonality. Herbs were more affected by variation in rainfall than shrubs and trees. Two species did not show any clear seasonal behaviour. Widespread taxa produced most of their mature seeds in the rainy season or immediately after it, and all but one of the narrowly distributed species produced most of their mature seeds in the dry season or in the transition from dry to rainy season. Seed predation is probably not an important selective force affecting reproductive phenology of larger taxa, while the smaller taxa seemed too constrained by abiotic factors for biotic factors to influence their phenology significantly.

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