The Balanopaceae, whose flowers were poorly known, have, in the past, been variously allocated to the Fagales, Euphorbiaceae, Salicales or other hamamelids and rosids (these groups being in Fagales, Malpighiales and Saxifragales, according to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group). This paper attempts a clarification based on flower morphology. Female flowers and cupules were studied in Balanops vieil...

Abstract Many species of thrips (Thysanoptera) in the family Thripidae form mating aggregations, but adaptive significance these aggregations and extent male female mate choice is poorly understood. We studied behaviour bean flower Megalurothrips sjostedti (Trybom) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), which forms occurs across sub-Saharan Africa. tested whether males choose mates by age or status. No-cho...

Aims sex allocation in plants is often plastic, enabling individuals to adjust to variable environments. However, the predicted malebiased sex allocation in response to low resource conditions has rarely been experimentally tested in hermaphroditic plants. in particular, it is unknown whether distal flowers in linear inflorescences show a larger shift to male allocation relative to basal flower...

Flower color variation among plant populations might reflect adaptation to local conditions such as the interacting animal community. In the northwest Iberian Peninsula, flower color of Gentiana lutea varies longitudinally among populations, ranging from orange to yellow. We explored whether flower color is locally adapted and the role of pollinators and seed predators as agents of selection by...

The tendency for flower longevity to increase with altitude is believed by many alpine ecologists to play an important role in compensating for low pollination rates at high altitudes due to cold and variable weather conditions. However, current studies documenting an altitudinal increase in flower longevity in the alpine habitat derive principally from studies on open-pollinated flowers where ...

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To elucidate the purpose of butterfly puddling, we measured the amounts of Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ that were absorbed or excreted during puddling by male Japanese Papilio butterflies through a urine test. All of the butterflies that sipped water with a Na+ concentration of 13 mM absorbed Na+ and excreted K+, although certain butterflies that sipped solutions with high concentrations of Na+ excr...

The majority of flowering plants produce perfect flowers that contain both the male and female reproductive organs in close proximity; consequently, they would have a strong tendency to self-fertilize if there were no mechanisms to prevent them from doing so. Because inbreeding can result in reduced fitness in the progeny, hermaphroditic plants have adopted a variety of reproductive strategies,...