The Effects of Floral Display Size on Pollinator Service to Individual Flowers of Myosotis and Mimulus

Oikos ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair W. Robertson ◽  
Mark R. MacNair
Keyword(s):  
Display Size ◽  
Floral Display ◽  
Floral Display Size ◽  
Pollinator Service

scholarly journals The influence of floral display size on selfing rates in Mimulus ringens

Heredity ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
J D Karron ◽  
R J Mitchell ◽  
K G Holmquist ◽  
J M Bell ◽  
B Funk
Keyword(s):  
Display Size ◽  
Floral Display ◽  
Floral Display Size ◽  
Mimulus Ringens

scholarly journals Adaptive plasticity of floral display size in animal-pollinated plants

2005 ◽  
Vol 272 (1581) ◽  
pp. 2651-2657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence D Harder ◽  
Steven D Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Display Size ◽  
Adaptive Plasticity ◽  
Floral Display ◽  
Mating Costs ◽  
Pollen Removal ◽  
Floral Display Size ◽  
Subsequent Exposure ◽  
Pollen Vectors ◽  
Benefit Cost ◽  
Pollination Environment

Plants need not participate passively in their own mating, despite their immobility and reliance on pollen vectors. Instead, plants may respond to their recent pollination experience by adjusting the number of flowers that they display simultaneously. Such responsiveness could arise from the dependence of floral display size on the longevity of individual flowers, which varies with pollination rate in many plant species. By hand-pollinating some inflorescences, but not others, we demonstrate plasticity in display size of the orchid Satyrium longicauda . Pollination induced flower wilting, but did not affect the opening of new flowers, so that within a few days pollinated inflorescences displayed fewer flowers than unpollinated inflorescences. During subsequent exposure to intensive natural pollination, pollen removal and receipt increased proportionally with increasing display size, whereas pollen-removal failure and self-pollination accelerated. Such benefit–cost relations allow plants that adjust display size in response to the prevailing pollination rate to increase their attractiveness when pollinators are rare (large displays), or to limit mating costs when pollinators are abundant (small displays). Seen from this perspective, pollination-induced flower wilting serves the entire plant by allowing it to display the number of flowers that is appropriate for the current pollination environment.

An experimental study of floral display size and reproductive success in Viburnum opulus: importance of grouping

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 394-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pam G. Krannitz ◽  
M. Anwar Maun
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Display Size ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Floral Display ◽  
Flower Number ◽  
Viburnum Opulus ◽  
Floral Display Size

Two components of the floral display of Viburnum opulus L. were manipulated to determine their effect on fruit initiation and maturation. We altered the size of the floral display by planting individual shrubs in groups of 1, 5, or 10 in 1985 and in groups of 2 or 6 in 1986. In addition, we changed inflorescence size by altering the number of sterile accessory flowers per inflorescence: 0, 4, or untreated in 1985 and 0 or untreated in 1986. The sterile-flower treatment did not explain a significant proportion of the variation in fruit initiation or maturation. In contrast, the plant-grouping treatment was significant in 1985 but not in 1986. The number and proportion of fruits initiated were higher in larger groups of plants than in small groups in 1985 (P < 0.0001 for analyses performed at group and plant levels). The proportion of fruits initiated in group sizes 1, 5, and 10 was 6.9, 15.0, and 22.7% per plant, respectively, and 4.3, 9.1, and 19.4% per inflorescence, respectively. The larger groups did not initiate or mature proportionally more fruits in 1986. Twice as much rain fell in 1986 as in 1985, and shrubs produced more fruits overall (32.2% fruit initiation versus 11% in 1985), but it is not clear why group size differences did not have an effect on fruit initiation and maturation in 1986. Within the plant-grouping treatment fruit initiation and maturation were always significantly correlated with flower number (P < 0.0001) in both 1985 and 1986, but the increase in the number of fruits initiated was not proportional to the increase in flower number. Key words: floral display size, fruit initiation, plant grouping, pollination, Viburum opulus.

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