Conditional strategies in an animal-pollinated plant: size-dependent adjustment of gender and rewards
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| Authors: | Biernaskie, JM; Elle, E |
| Year: | 2005 |
| Journal: | Evolutionary Ecology Research 7: 901-913 |
| Title: | Conditional strategies in an animal-pollinated plant: size-dependent adjustment of gender and rewards |
| Abstract: | Question: How do hermaphroditic flowering plants that must attract animal pollinators allocate to flower production, seed production and nectar production among flowers, as functions of their individual size and the size of their floral display? Organism: Chamerion (= Epilobium) angustifolium; vertical inflorescences display male-phase flowers above female-phase flowers. Site: Silver Star Mountain, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Methods: We measured nectar production from male- and female-phase flowers across a range of display sizes. By experiment, we determined the effect of alternative nectar distributions on bumblebee foraging. We measured total flower production (male investment), seed production (female investment) and plant size. Results: Large floral displays allocated extra nectar production to female-phase flowers. Bumblebees probed fewer male-phase flowers per visit when extra nectar was added to female-phase flowers than when nectar was added more evenly among gender phases. Large plants produced about a third fewer flowers per gram of plant biomass than did the smallest plants. But large plants matured a nearly proportional number of seeds. |
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