Pollination biology of cashew in the Northern Territory of Australia

1990 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
TA Heard ◽  
V Vithanage ◽  
EK Chacko
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bees ◽  
Fruit Set ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Pollination Biology ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Flying Insects ◽  
Nectar Rewards ◽  
A Site ◽  
Insect Visitors

Aspects of the pollination biology of cashew Anacardium occidentale L. (Anacardiaceae) were investigated at a site of potential commercial production. A mean of 442.9 flowers were produced per panicle of which 32.1 (7.3%) were hermaphrodite, the remainder being male. Mean initial fruit set was 5.0 per panicle, representing a percentage fruit set of 15.5%. The absence of either male or hermaphrodite flowers at any particular stage of flowering did not limit fruit set. Diversity of insect flower visitors, attracted by nectar rewards, was great, but only a few species were common. Three species of potentially efficient pollinators were tested for their pollinator efficiency which was found to be high for honey bees, Apis mellifera, and a native fly, Ligyra sp. Only 25% of flowers were pollinated in 1987, but this increased to 98% owing to a corresponding increase in the natural populations of insect visitors. Wind and night flying insects played no role in pollination. Although 98% of flowers were pollinated, initial fruit set averaged only 15.5%. This suggests that factors other than pollination limit fruit set. However, pollination is important and the insect pollinators will need protection from insecticide applications and destruction of breeding sites.

Autonomous self-pollination and insect visitation in a saprophytic orchid, Epipogium roseum (D.Don) Lindl.

2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 154 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Zhou ◽  
H. Lin ◽  
X.-L. Fan ◽  
J.-Y. Gao
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Fruit Set ◽  
Apis Cerana ◽  
Floral Biology ◽  
Resource Limitations ◽  
Self Pollination ◽  
Insect Visitation ◽  
Asian Honey Bee ◽  
Insect Visitors

Reproductive biology of saprophytic plants has been poorly studied. Epipogium roseum (D.Don) Lindl. is a small saprophytic orchid that is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical Asia, Australia and Africa. The floral biology and insect visitation of E. roseum were studied in Xishuangbanna, south Yunnan Province, China. E. roseum possesses an obligate self-pollination system, in which the degenerative rostellum has lost its function as a physical barrier separating the stigma and stamens (pollinia), allowing contact between the stigmatic secretions and the pollinia during bud development. Flowers of E. roseum usually open and successfully attract insect visitors. The Asian honey bee (Apis cerana cerana) was the only visitor observed, and regularly visited flowers of E. roseum for nectar. However, these bees did not carry pollinia away after visiting the flowers due to the absence of a viscid disk in E. roseum; the results of experiments also indicated that the Asian honey bee does not contribute to fruit set in E. roseum. The visiting frequency of Asian honey bees to flowers of E. roseum varied both spatially and temporally. E. roseum does not undergo outcrossing mediated by insects and is adapted to obligate self-pollination. We suggest that this may have evolved because of the uncertainty of pollinator services associated with its saprophytic lifestyle. Our current studies do not support the hypothesis that obligate autogamy is favoured by myco-heterotrophic plants due to resource limitations.

Protogyny, Self-Incompatibility and Pollination in Anthocercis gracilis (Solanaceae)

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 451 ◽  
Author(s):  
HM Stace
Keyword(s):  
Natural Populations ◽  
Pollen Tubes ◽  
Pollination Biology ◽  
Self Incompatibility ◽  
First Report ◽  
Self Pollination ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Tiny Amount ◽  
Insect Visitors

The pollination biology of A. gracilis was examined in glasshouse plants and natural populations. The species is both protogynous and pre-zygotically self-sterile (self-incompatible). Protogyny prevents autopollination (autogamous self-pollination), and self-incompatibility avoids geitonogamous self-fertilisation. This sequence is essential because prior selfing blocks the style with pollen tubes and prevents subsequent outcrossing. Flowers have no discernible daytime odour, the pollen is clumped and not easily shaken from opened anthers, and daytime insect visitors are rarely observed in the field. However in long-established populations, mast plants carry one or a few capsules during winter-spring and seeds per capsule are generally high. Reproduction of natural populations involves reliable pollinators of unknown identity, possibly small flies, bees or moths lured by a tiny amount of sucrose-rich nectar secreted by the hypogynous disc. It is not anomalous that A. gracilis has two devices for preventing self-fertilisation, protogyny and strong self-incompatibility, as both are functional aspects of the same outcrossing system. This is the first report of self-incompatibility in the Anthocercideae which is an old and apparently basal lineage in the Solanaceae.

scholarly journals Pollination Methods for Cornus Breeding

HortScience ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 627d-627
Author(s):  
James Hill Craddock ◽  
R.J. Sauve ◽  
S.E. Schlarbaum ◽  
J. Skinner ◽  
R.N. Trigiano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Cold Storage ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Fruit Set ◽  
Pollination Biology ◽  
Cornus Florida ◽  
Self Compatibility ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Pollination Methods

Hand pollinations and honey bees were used to cross Cornus florida cultivars in a series of experiments investigating dogwood pollination biology from a breeding viewpoint and testing the use of insects (domestic honey bees and ladybug beetles as pollinators in dogwood breeding. Experiments were conducted to study possible incompatibility between dogwood cultivars and to determine if self-compatibility and self-fertility occur in Cornus florida. Since 1993, ≈200 seedlings have been produced by hand and insect-mediated pollinations. Honey bees can be used in dogwood breeding. Trees cross pollinated by ladybeetles had lower fruit set than trees cross pollinated by honey bees. Greenhouse forcing to accelerate anthesis and cold storage to delay the onset of bloom of container-grown trees can extend the dogwood breeding season effectively.

Freshwater Cyanobacteria of North-Eastern Australia: 2. Chroococcales

Phytotaxa ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
GLENN B. MCGREGOR
Keyword(s):  
Light Microscopy ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Rivers And Streams ◽  
Original Illustrations ◽  
Freshwater Habitats

This volume provides the first detailed account of the Chroococcales of north-eastern Australia. It provides keys, morphological and ecological data for 6 families, 33 genera and 112 species, and photomicrographs and original illustrations to enable the identification of natural populations based on stable and recognizable characters observable with the aid of light microscopy. Distributional data are based on extensive surveys at 270 sites representing the major freshwater habitats including rivers and streams, palustrine and lacustrine wetlands, thermal springs, and man-made reservoirs in Queensland and the Northern Territory as well as a review of the Australian phycological literature. 

Pollination biology of Geissomeria pubescens Nees (Acanthaceae) in a forest remnant in central Brazil

Botany ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphael Matias ◽  
Hélder Consolaro
Keyword(s):  
Fruit Set ◽  
Floral Biology ◽  
Pollination Biology ◽  
Energy Availability ◽  
Open Pollination ◽  
Forest Fragment ◽  
Central Brazil ◽  
Forest Remnant ◽  
Fruit Formation ◽  
Nectar Availability

Specialized plants like those in genus Geissomeria Lindl. (Acanthaceae) seem to depend directly on pollination by hummingbirds for reproduction. The goal of this study was to investigate the pollination biology of Geissomeria pubescens Nees (Acanthaceae) in a forest fragment in the municipality of Catalão, state of Goiás, Brazil, including aspects of morphology, floral biology, energy availability from nectar, and reproductive system. Geissomeria pubescens has pendulous red flowers, tubular corolla, diurnal anthesis, and no odor. These floral traits characterize G. pubescens as an ornithophilous species. The total amount of energy available from nectar was 8.60 ± 2.87 cal·flower–1, and each individual produced up to 22.53 cal·day–1. Based on the resources offered by G. pubescens, the fragment studied may support up to 94.6 hummingbirds during the peak of nectar availability. Hummingbirds were the only flower visitors, and Thalurania furcata (Gmelin, 1788) was the main pollinator. Flowers from manual cross- and self-pollination treatments produced fruits, but fruit set was low compared with open pollination. These results, along with the lack of fruit set from agamospermy and spontaneous selfing, demonstrate the importance of hummingbirds for pollen flow and, consequently, for fruit formation in G. pubescens.

scholarly journals Bumblebee Preadators Reduce Pollinator Density and Plant Fitness

2004 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 94-97
Author(s):  
Reuven Dukas
Keyword(s):  
Food Reward ◽  
Fruit Set ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Pollination Biology ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Predatory Activity ◽  
Selective Agents ◽  
Flower Visiting ◽  
Pollination Systems

Research in pollination biology has focused on the interactions between animals and the flowers they visit for food reward. However, other selective agents, including predators, seed feeders and herbivores, may affect pollination systems. Because flowers are predictable food sources for a variety of species, flowers are also reliable sites at which predators can locate flower-visiting animals. Prominent among pollinators' predators are beewolves (Philanthus spp), common sphecid wasps (Sphecidae) that prey almost exclusively on bees. My field work over three years indicates, first, that an area of approximately 50 square km surrounding a single bumblebee wolf (Philanthus bicinctus) aggregation had a low bumblebee (Bombus spp) density caused by intense predation by the wasps, and, second, that fruit set of the bumblebee pollinated western monkshood (Aconitum columbianum) was significantly lower at locations and times of bumblebee wolf activity than at control locations and times with no such predatory activity. These results indicate that predation can sometimes alter plant­pollinator interactions.

scholarly journals Observations of Phαceliα tαnαcetifoliα as a Food Plant for Honey Bees and other insects

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Thrasyvoulou ◽  
Basilis Tsirakoglou
Keyword(s):  
Plant Growth ◽  
Honey Bees ◽  
Food Plant ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Solitary Bee ◽  
Seasonal Differences ◽  
Insect Visitors ◽  
Spring Maximum ◽  
Phacelia Tanacetifolia

Three consecutive sowings of Phacelia tanacetifolia Bentham (Hydrophyllaceae) were examined for plant growth and attractiveness to bees and other insect-visitors over a three years’ study. Plants that were sown in March flowered uniformly for periods of 24 to 40 days, while those sown in June and July had a non-uniform anthesis that was impossible to estimate. Plants sown in early August, remained vegetative throughout winter and flowered the following spring. Maximum visits of honey bees were observed between 10:00 h and 17:00 h. Most honey bees (>70%) collected nectar. Seasonal differences in the ratio nectar/pollen gatherers were noted. Two species of bumble bee (B. terrestris and B. lucorum) and 9 species of solitary bee visited Phacelia.

scholarly journals Photography of Trichoptera in flight

Zoosymposia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 297-318
Author(s):  
W. Geoff McIlleron ◽  
Ferdinand C. De Moor
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Beat Frequency ◽  
Behavioural Ecology ◽  
Wing Beat ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Flying Insects ◽  
Single Lens ◽  
A Site ◽  
Selection Of

Whereas photography of insects at rest is used for a wide variety of purposes, including illustrating publications and aiding their identification, photography of insects in flight is more challenging and little practiced. This paper describes a system that uses a digital single-lens-reflex camera combined with commercial-level flashes (with electronic power settings to give very short exposures) and simple electronics in a rig that can be used to capture high quality images of night-flying insects. With such a rig, hundreds of images of free flying Trichoptera have been obtained. Preliminary observations of night-flying Athripsodes bergensis (Leptoceridae) indicate that this system could be used for studying the mechanics of flight, wing beat frequency, aerodynamics, flying speed, aerial activity, and behavioural ecology of night-flying insects in their natural environment.      This paper briefly describes the technique as applied at a site on the banks of the Groot River in the southern Cape region of South Africa between October 2008 and April 2009 and presents a selection of the images obtained.

scholarly journals Male and female reproductive success in natural and anthropogenic populations of Malaxis monophyllos (L.) Sw. (Orchidaceae)

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edyta Jermakowicz ◽  
Beata Ostrowiecka ◽  
Izabela Tałałaj ◽  
Artur Pliszko ◽  
Agata Kostro-Ambroziak
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Fruit Set ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Floral Display ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Female Reproductive Success ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Demographic Processes ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Effective Pollinators

Abstract In the presented study, male and female reproductive success was analyzed in relation to the population size, floral display and pollinators’ availability in natural and anthropogenic populations of the orchid Malaxis monophyllos (L.) Sw. Our results indicated significant differences between all investigated populations in parameters of floral display, including heights and number of flowers per inflorescence, as well the number of flowering individuals and their spatial structure. Additionally, populations differed both in male (pollinia removal) and female (fruit set) reproductive success, but only the fruit set clearly differentiated anthropogenic and natural populations. Despite the average flower number per plant being significantly higher in two of the anthropogenic populations, it was not related to the fruits set, which was significantly lower there. Moreover, our preliminary study concerning the potential pollinators of M. monophyllos showed a higher contribution of flies in natural habitats than in anthropogenic ones. Thus, we can suspect that the main factors influencing the level of female reproductive success in M. monophyllos populations are abundance of effective pollinators, as well as flower visitors, which may have resulted in a different level of pollen discounting in populations. Therefore, further studies concerning breeding system and pollination as important forces that shape demographic processes in M. monophyllos populations are necessary. Our results also indicate that suitable conservation methods in M. monophyllos should always include the preservation of potential pollinators, especially in these new, secondary habitats.

scholarly journals The Removal of Subterranean Stormwater Drain Sumps as Mosquito Breeding Sites in Darwin, Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Allan Warchot ◽  
Peter Whelan ◽  
John Brown ◽  
Tony Vincent ◽  
Jane Carter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Territory ◽  
Potential Vector ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Medical Entomology ◽  
Vector Mosquito ◽  
Mosquito Breeding ◽  
Maintenance Breeding ◽  
Concrete Filling ◽  
The City ◽  
Water Holding

The Northern Territory Top End Health Service, Medical Entomology Section and the City of Darwin council carry out a joint Mosquito Engineering Program targeting the rectification of mosquito breeding sites in the City of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. In 2005, an investigation into potential subterranean stormwater breeding sites in the City of Darwin commenced, specifically targeting roadside stormwater side entry pits. There were 79 side entry pits randomly investigated for mosquito breeding in the Darwin suburbs of Nightcliff and Rapid Creek, with 69.6% of the pits containing water holding sumps, and 45.6% of those water holding sumps breeding endemic mosquitoes. Culex quinquefasciatus was the most common mosquito collected, accounting for 73% of all mosquito identifications, with the potential vector mosquito Aedes notoscriptus also recovered from a small number of sumps. The sumps were also considered potential dry season maintenance breeding sites for important exotic Aedes mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, which are potential vectors of dengue, chickungunya and Zika virus. Overall, 1229 side entry pits were inspected in ten Darwin suburbs from 2005 to 2008, with 180 water holding sumps identified and rectified by concrete filling.

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