Nearly forty years ago R. L. Berg proposed that plants with specialized pollination ecology evolve genetic and developmental systems that decouple floral morphology from phenotypic variation in vegetative traits. These species evolve separate floral and vegetative trait clusters, or as she termed them, "correlation pleiades." The predictions of this hypothesis have been generally supported, but...

Trimenia moorei (Oliv.) Philipson is an andromonoecious liane with >0.40 of the total flower buds maturing as bisexual flowers. Male and bisexual flowers are strongly scented with pollen, anther sacs and receptacle scars testing positively for volatile emissions. Scent analyses detect over 20 components. The major fatty acid derivative is 8-heptadecene, and 2-phenylethanol dominates the benzeno...

Reciprocal pollination was made between Lilium nobilissimum and L. regale. Pollen tubes reached the base of style within 144 h after pollination, but no mature seeds were obtained in either cross combination. Explants, or ovules-with-placental-tissue excised from each carpel 30 and 40 days after pollination (DAP), were cultured on a medium composed of major salts of B-5 macronutrient (Gamborg, ...

Lantana camara, a woody shrub originating in south and central America, is among the most widespread and troublesome exotic weeds of the old-world tropics. It invades pasture, crops and native ecosystems, causing substantial economic losses and environmental degradation. In Australia alone, L. camara is currently estimated to cover c. 40 000 km . In glasshouse studies we demonstrate that L. cam...

This paper presents SMAC Advisor, a decision-support tool for the assessment of coexistence between genetically modified and conventional maize. The assessment is based on a qualitative multi-attribute DEXi model. This model was developed from two sources: (1) extensive simulations of gene flow due to cross-pollination, obtained by a simulator called MAPOD®, and (2) rules provided by experts in...

The honey bee is a major insect used for pollination of many commercial crops worldwide. Although the use of honey bees for pollination can disrupt the habitat, the effects on their physiology have never been determined. Recently, honey bee colonies have often collapsed when introduced in greenhouses for pollination in Japan. Thus, suppressing colony collapses and maintaining the number of work...

In this report, self-sterility in Camellia oleifera was explored by comparing structural and statistical characteristics following self-pollination (SP) and cross-pollination (CP). Although slightly delayed pollen germination and pollen tube growth in selfed ovaries compared to crossed ovaries was observed, there was no significant difference in the percentages of pollen that germinated and pol...

Tropical biodiversity and associated ecosystem functions have become heavily eroded through habitat loss. Animal-mediated pollination is required in more than 94% of higher tropical plant species and 75% of the world's leading food crops, but it remains unclear if corridors avert deforestation-driven pollination breakdown in fragmented tropical landscapes. Here, we used manipulative resource ex...

lants have evolved a variety of reproductive systems. The trees of some species, -L such as ash and ginkgo, are differentiated by gender, with both a female and a male individual required for seed production. Other species, such as cherries and almonds, ensure cross-pollination without separating individuals by gender: each plant is self-incompatible, so that stigmas cannot be fertilized by pol...