Flowering synchrony drives reproductive success in a wind‐pollinated tree

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 1820-1826
Author(s):  
Michał Bogdziewicz ◽  
Mario Pesendorfer ◽  
Elizabeth E. Crone ◽  
Carlos Pérez‐Izquierdo ◽  
Raul Bonal

2016 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 736
Author(s):  
Jeanett Escobedo-Sarti ◽  
Demetria Mondragón

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Knowledge of the flowering phenology of species with an epiphytic habit and a dioecious sexual system is scarce.</p><p><strong>Questions:</strong> We studied the flowering phenology of a population of the dioecious epiphytic bromeliad, <em>Catopsis</em> <em>compacta</em>, in an oak forest in Oaxaca, Mexico, to answer the following questions: 1) what type of flowering period is exhibited by this population of <em>C. compacta</em>? 2) what is the degree of synchrony between the male and female flowering periods? and 3) what is the flowering synchrony index of the population?</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> In February 2006, in a 20 m × 20 m plot, we marked and measured 151 individuals of <em>C. compacta</em> ≥ 10 cm in height (minimum reproductive size). We recorded the number of flowers and fruits present in each individual every month for one year.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> Our results showed that the flowering period in both sexes lasted for three months (May–July). Only 23 marked individuals flowered (15.23 %): of these 12 (52.17 %) were female and 11 (47.83 %) were male. The index of synchrony between females and males was 0.958 ± 0.013 and the flowering synchrony index of the population was 0.833 ± 0.189.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The high flowering synchrony between the sexes, together with a flowering season that coincided with the period of highest rainfall when the number of arthropods (potential pollinators) is the highest, could favor breeding and, therefore, reproductive success.</p>



2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1884) ◽  
pp. 20181072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiyun Qiu ◽  
Xiao Xu ◽  
Shuangshuang Liu ◽  
Wenwen Liu ◽  
Jing Liu ◽  
...  

Flowering synchrony can play an important role in plants' reproductive success, which is essential for the successful establishment and spread of invasive plants. Although flowering synchrony has been found to be closely related to climatic factors, the effects of variation in such factors along latitudinal gradient on flowering synchrony and the role of flowering synchrony in the reproductive success of invading populations remain largely unexplored. In a 2-year field study, we examined the latitudinal variation of flowering phenology, especially flowering synchrony, in an invasive plant, Spartina alterniflora , along coastal China, and its relationship with population seed set across three climatic zones. We found that first flowering date was delayed, and flowering synchrony increased with increasing latitude. Flowering synchrony was negatively related to temperature during flowering season but not to soil properties or precipitation, suggesting that climate has shaped the latitudinal pattern of flowering synchrony. Moreover, a positive correlation between flowering synchrony and seed set across latitudes indicates the possible role of flowering synchrony in the latitudinal pattern of sexual reproduction in S. alterniflora . These results suggest that, in addition to the effects of climate on the growth of invasive species, climatic factors can play an important role in the invasion success of alien plants by regulating the flowering synchrony and thus the reproductive success of invasive plants.



2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakeline Prata de Assis Pires ◽  
Ary Gomes da Silva ◽  
Leandro Freitas


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanca Arroyo-Correa ◽  
Ignasi Bartomeus ◽  
Pedro Jordano

AbstractThe biotic and abiotic context of individual plants in animal-pollinated plant populations may influence pollinator foraging behaviour and therefore how the pollen flow occurs. Thus, this variation among conspecifics within a given plant population can ultimately influence the plant reproductive success. Here we used a fine-scale, well characterized population of Halimium halimifolium in combination with exponential random graph models (ERGMs) to assess how the intrapopulation variation in intrinsic (i.e. phenotype and phenology) and extrinsic (i.e. microsite) plant attributes configures individual plant-pollinator networks and its functional consequences. We found that pollinator visitation patterns and the emerging network configuration were associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic plant attributes, such as the number of flowers, the flowering synchrony and the cover of intraspecific and interspecific neighbours. Both intrinsic and extrinsic plant attributes also affected the plant female reproductive success directly and indirectly - through its effects on the probability of conspecifics plants to share pollinators. Our study opens up new approaches to assess and predict the functional consequences of context-dependency in plant-pollinator interactions, especially under global change scenarios, where the ecological context of individual plants is likely to change.



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