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Effects of individual and population parameters on reproductive success in three sexually deceptive orchid species
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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
Reproductive success (RS) in orchids in general, and in non-rewarding species
specifically, is extremely low. RS is pollinator and pollination limited in
food deceptive orchids, but this has rarely been studied in sexually deceptive
orchid species. Here, we tested the effects of several individual (plant height,
inflorescence size, nearest neighbour distance and flower position) and
population (patch geometry, population density and size) parameters on RS
in three sexually deceptive Ophrys (Orchidaceae) species. Inter-specific differences
were observed in RS of flowers situated in the upper versus the
lower part of the inflorescence, likely due to species-specific pollinator
behaviour. For all three species examined, RS increased with increasing
plant height, inflorescence size and nearest neighbour distance. RS generally
increased with decreasing population density and increasing patch elongation.
Given these results, we postulate that pollinator availability, rather
than pollinator learning, is the most limiting factor in successful reproduction
for sexually deceptive orchids. Our results also suggest that olfactory
‘display’ (i.e. versus optical display), in terms of inflorescence size (and covarying
plant height), plays a key role in individual RS of sexually deceptive
orchids. In this regard, several hypotheses are suggested and discussed.
Descrição
Research Paper
Palavras-chave
Ophrys pollinator limitation reproductive success sexually deceptive orchids
Contexto Educativo
Citação
"Plant Biology". ISSN 1435-8603. 11 (2009) 454-463
Editora
German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of The Netherlands