Generalist passerine pollination of a winter-flowering fruit tree in central China
Generalist passerine pollination of a winter-flowering fruit tree in central China
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DOI：
10.1093/aob/mcr293
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发表时间：
2012-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
Huang, Shuang-Quan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fang, Qiang;Chen, Ying-Zhuo;Huang, Shuang-Quan
鉴于昆虫活动在很大程度上受到低温的限制，热带以外的冬季开花植物可能会遇到授粉服务短缺的问题。鸟类可以替代这些植物的传粉者，但在冬季开花plants.Methods的枇杷，Eriobotrya japonica（蔷薇科），传粉者访问的鸟类的传粉作用的实验证据，观察整个开花季节从11月至1月在中国中部两年。在田间进行了自花授粉和异花授粉，以研究自交亲和性和花粉限制。此外，在花序上分别用鸟笼和尼龙网覆盖以排除鸟类和所有动物传粉者，以研究鸟类传粉在种子生产中的作用。初冬昆虫访花频率较高，而晚冬昆虫传粉者较少，雀形目鸟类（Pycnonotussinensis和Zosterops）成为主要访花者。然而，种子集的自由授粉花没有不同的早，晚冬。排除鸟类的访问大大减少了种子，表明雀形目鸟类是重要的传粉者枇杷在冬末。白色周位花奖励雀形目相对大量的稀释花蜜。我们对枇杷和其他蔷薇科植物的观察表明，周位可能与鸟类授粉，但该协会需要进一步study.Conclusions这些研究结果表明，花的性状和物候将有利于吸引鸟类传粉昆虫在寒冷的天气，在昆虫活动是有限的。
Background and Aims Winter-flowering plants outside the tropics may experience a shortage of pollinator service, given that insect activity is largely limited by low temperature. Birds can be alternative pollinators for these plants, but experimental evidence for the pollination role of birds in winter-flowering plants is scarce.Methods Pollinator visitation to the loquat, Eriobotrya japonica (Rosaceae), was observed across the flowering season from November to January for two years in central China. Self-and cross-hand pollination was conducted in the field to investigate self-compatibility and pollen limitation. In addition, inflorescences were covered by bird cages and nylon mesh nets to exclude birds and all animal pollinators, respectively, to investigate the pollination role of birds in seed production.Results Self-fertilization in the loquat yielded few seeds. In early winter insect visit frequency was relatively higher, while in late winter insect pollinators were absent and two passerine birds (Pycnonotus sinensis and Zosterops japonicus) became the major floral visitors. However, seed-set of open-pollinated flowers did not differ between early and late winter. Exclusion of bird visitation greatly reduced seed-set, indicating that passerine birds were important pollinators for the loquat in late winter. The whitish perigynous flowers reward passerines with relatively large volumes of dilute nectar. Our observation on the loquat and other Rosaceae species suggested that perigyny might be related to bird pollination but the association needs further study.Conclusions These findings suggest that floral traits and phenology would be favoured to attract bird pollinators in cold weather, in which insect activity is limited.