The size of individual Delphinium flowers and the opportunity for geitonogamous pollination

H. S. Ishii*, L. D. Harder

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

1. Animal-pollinated plants influence their mating success through characteristics of their individual flowers and the arrangement of flowers into inflorescences. Previous studies of inflorescence function have focused on flower number, so the influences of traits of individual flowers on pollinator attraction and self-pollination between flowers remain unknown. 2. To investigate the effects of flower size and number on pollinator attraction and behaviour on inflorescences, we reduced the perianth size of flowers of Delphinium bicolor Nuttall and Delphinium glaucum S. Watson. 3. Reduction in flower size decreased the number of visits per inflorescence by bumble bees (Bombus spp.), but increased the number of probes per visit. In contrast, both attraction and probes per visit increased in a decelerating manner with number of open flowers. The average number of probes per flower, which combines the effects of pollinator attraction and behaviour on inflorescences, did not differ significantly between small- and large-flowered plants, or with flower number. 4. The absence of significant variation among plants with different floral and inflorescence characteristics in visits per flower and nectar standing crop per flower indicate that bees achieved an ideal free distribution. 5. Our results suggest that large flowers reduce the incidence of geitonogamous pollination without reducing the frequency of probes per flower.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1115-1123
Number of pages9
JournalFunctional Ecology
Volume20
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006/12

Keywords

  • Display size
  • Flower size
  • Geitonogamy
  • Ideal free distribution
  • Inflorescence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The size of individual Delphinium flowers and the opportunity for geitonogamous pollination'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this