Crop productivity is improved by ecosystem services, including pollination, but this should be set in the context of trade-offs among multiple management practices. We investigated the impact of pollination services on coffee production, considering variation in fertilization, irrigation, shade cover, and environmental variables such as rainfall (which stimulates coffee flowering across all pla...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Delayed selfing is the predominant mode of autonomous self-pollination in flowering plants. However, few delayed selfing mechanisms have been documented. This research aims to explore a new delayed selfing mechanism induced by stigmatic fluid in Roscoea debilis, a small perennial ginger. METHODS Floral biology and flower visitors were surveyed. The capacity of autonomous s...

†Background Most tropical and subtropical plants are biotically pollinated, and insects are the major pollinators. A small but ecologically and economically important group of plants classified in 28 orders, 67 families and about 528 species of angiosperms are pollinated by nectar-feeding bats. From a phylogenetic perspective this is a derived pollination mode involving a relatively large and e...

The ecological significance of spacing among plants in contributing to the maintenance of species richness, particularly in tropical forests, has received considerable attention that has largely focussed on distance- and density-dependent seed and seedling mortality. More recently it has become apparent that plant spacing is also relevant to pollination, which often constrains seed production. ...

Androdioecy is a rare sexual system in nature, as predicted theoretically. Among the androecious species reported so far, Castilla elastica (Moraceae) is unique in that flowers are unisexual and staminate and pistillate flowers on cosexual plants are produced on different inflorescences. In addition, inflorescence structure of staminate inflorescences on males and staminate and pistillate inflo...

Bird pollination has evolved repeatedly among flowering plants but is almost exclusively characterized by passive transfer of pollen onto the bird and by nectar as primary reward [1, 2]. Food body rewards are exceedingly rare among eudicot flowering plants and are only known to occur on sterile floral organs [3]. In this study, we report an alternative bird pollination mechanism involving bulbo...

Pollination of many flowers leads to an increase in ethylene synthesis and flower senescence. We have investigated the regulation of pollination-induced ethylene synthesis in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) using flowers of the dialytic (dl) mutant, in which pollination can be manipulated experimentally, with the aim of developing a model system to study tomato flower senescence. Ethylene synt...

BACKGROUND Most tropical and subtropical plants are biotically pollinated, and insects are the major pollinators. A small but ecologically and economically important group of plants classified in 28 orders, 67 families and about 528 species of angiosperms are pollinated by nectar-feeding bats. From a phylogenetic perspective this is a derived pollination mode involving a relatively large and en...

Crop pollination by bees and other animals is an ecosystem service of enormous economic value (Losey andVaughan 2006; Allsopp et al. 2008). Pollination can increase the yield, quality, and stability of crops as diverse as almond, cacao, canola, coffee, sunflower, tomato and watermelon. Indeed, Klein et al. (in press) found that 75% of globally important crops benefit from animal pollination. Th...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Reduction in female fitness in large clones can occur as a result of increased geitonogamous self-fertilization and its influence through inbreeding depression. This possibility was investigated in the self-compatible, bee-pollinated perennial herb Aconitum kusnezoffii which varies in clone size. METHODS Field investigations were conducted on pollinator behaviour, flowerin...