| Abstract Detail
Pollination Biology Montgomery, Benjamin R. [1]. Patterns and Effects of Foreign Pollen Transfer from an Invasive Plant to Simultaneously Flowering Species with Different Floral Traits. Flowers may receive heterospecific pollen from simultaneously flowering species with shared pollinators, and receipt of heterospecific pollen can cause reduced fruit or seed set. However, there has been a paucity of research concerning what floral and breeding system traits influence patterns and consequences of heterospecific pollen receipt. To investigate whether floral restrictiveness influences patterns of heterospecific pollen receipt, I determined rates of heterospecific pollen receipt for 29 species with a range of floral morphologies flowering simultaneously with the invasive plant Euphorbia esula (leafy spurge, Euphorbiaceae) on a Loess Hill Prairie (Plymouth County, Iowa). As hypothesized, flowers with unrestrictive morphologies received significantly more Euphorbia pollen, more heterospecific pollen excluding Euphorbia, and a greater diversity of pollen per stigma than flowers with restrictive morphologies. In a series of hand-pollination experiments, receipt of Euphorbia pollen significantly decreased fruit or seed set for three species, Linum rigidum (stiff flax, Linaceae), Viola pedatifida (prairie violet, Violaceae), and Zizia aurea (golden alexanders, Apiaceae). The effect of Euphorbia pollen receipt varied according to the order and magnitude of pollen application. However, for other recipient species, receipt of Euphorbia pollen did not significantly decrease fruit or seed set. These results suggest that heterospecific pollen receipt may be harmful in some instances, but in other cases plants have traits that buffer them from receipt or harmful effects of heterospecific pollen receipt.
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1 - University of Michigan, Deptartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 830 North University, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1048, USA
Keywords:
competition for pollination
interspecific pollen transfer
heterospecific pollen transfer
invasive plant
Euphorbia esula.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: CP22
Location: Lake Ontario/Hilton
Date: Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
Time: 9:30 AM
Number: CP22007
Abstract ID:2416 |
