Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Do floral syndromes predict specialization in plant pollination systems? An experimental test in an "ornithophilous" African Protea
Oecologia, Volume 140, No. 2, Year 2004
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
We investigated whether the "ornithophilous" floral syndrome exhibited in an African sugarbush, Protea roupelliae (Proteaceae), reflects ecological specialization for bird-pollination. A breeding system experiment established that the species is self-compatible, but dependent on visits by pollinators for seed set. The cup-shaped inflorescences were visited by a wide range of insect and bird species; however inflorescences from which birds, but not insects, were excluded by wire cages set few seeds relative to open-pollinated controls. One species, the malachite sunbird (Nectarinia famosa), accounted for more than 80% of all birds captured in P. roupelliae stands and carried the largest protea pollen loads. A single visit by this sunbird species was enough to increase seed set considerably over unvisited, bagged inflorescences. Our results show that P. roupelliae is largely dependent on birds for pollination, and thus confirm the utility of floral syndromes for generating hypotheses about the ecology of pollination systems. © Springer-Verlag 2004.
Authors & Co-Authors
Hargreaves, Anna L.
Canada, Peterborough
Trent University
Johnson, Steven D.
South Africa, Scottsville
University of Natal, School of Botany and Zoology
Nol, Erica
Canada, Peterborough
Trent University
Statistics
Citations: 87
Authors: 3
Affiliations: 2
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1007/s00442-004-1495-5
ISSN:
00298549
Study Approach
Quantitative