1. RESTRICTION OF POLLINATOR ASSEMBLAGE THROUGH FLOWER LENGTH AND WIDTH IN THREE LONG-TONGUED HAWKMOTH–POLLINATED SPECIES OF MANDEVILLA (APOCYNACEAE, APOCYNOIDEAE)1
- Author
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Andrea Aristides Cocucci, Alicia Noemi Sersic, and Marcela More
- Subjects
Pollination ,Apocynaceae ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Plant Science ,Insect ,Biology ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease_cause ,Proboscis (genus) ,Apocynoideae ,Pollinator ,Pollen ,Botany ,Mandevilla ,medicine ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,media_common - Abstract
Apocynaceae have a precise pollination mechanism. However, broad pollinator assemblages, including several insect orders, have often been recorded. We test how the corolla tube length and operative width required for effective release of the pollination mechanism could restrict the pollinator assemblage in putatively hawkmoth-pollinated Apocynaceae that differ in flower depth. If corolla tube length were effective in filtering pollinators, a broader pollen vector assemblage would be expected in short-flowered species. For this to occur, the operative width of the pollinating apparatus would be additionally expected not to be specific to any particular pollinator. Alternatively, if the pollination mechanism were to have any effect in the exclusion of pollinators, access to short flowers would be expected to be limited by proboscis width rather than length. Pollination of three species in the Apocynaceae was studied in seven populations through direct observations and palynological analysis of hawk...
- Published
- 2007
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