Floral visitor diversity and efficiency in the sub-alpine herb Polemonium brandegeei: the role of secondary visitors in pollination
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Date
2017
Authors
Pond, Dawn Catherine
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Abstract
Flowering plant species rely on animal-mediated pollination for sexual reproduction. I explored floral visitor contribution to pollen movement and seed set of sub-alpine herb Polemonium brandegeei, a species visited by diverse floral visitors. I conducted field exclusion experiments that separated small visitor pollination from open pollination. Pollen movement under small visitor pollination was compared with known pollinator efforts. I documented small visitors significantly contributing to pollen deposition and seed set. I also witnessed no effect of floral shape on seed set. I concluded that small visitors, are pollinators of P. brandegeei. I conducted pollen supplementation experiments by hand pollinating plants and measuring seed set under open pollination. P. brandegeei population is not pollen limited as seed set did not differ between open pollinated and hand pollinated plants. Results indicating a lack of strong selection imposed by visitors on floral shape and non-syndrome pollinators, which may occur frequently in natural systems.
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Biology, Pollination biology