For the UHURU Pollination Networks Calculated Using R Package Bipartite with Statistics from R Package Lme4

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

For the UHURU Pollination Networks Calculated Using R Package Bipartite with Statistics from R Package Lme4 LARGE MAMMALS, RAINFALL VARIATION, AND THE STRUCTURE OF PLANT- POLLINATOR NETWORKS IN AN AFRICAN SAVANNA By TRAVIS JAMES GUY A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2017 © 2017 Travis Guy To my loving and hilarious family. To my mom for her unending love, patience, positivity, and encouragement. You have shaped me into the person I am today and who, without, I would have accomplished a mere fraction of what I have done. I owe so much to you. To my dad for showing me the world's beauty and igniting my adventurous spirit. To my brother for being my best friend, epic adventure partner, and showing me a world of possibilities. And to anyone who has gone out of their way to make this wonderful world a better place. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost I thank my friend, mentor, and advisor Dr. Todd Palmer. He stood by me through the good and the bad times, never wavering in his support and encouragement and having immeasurable patience with me. I owe a great deal of my success to Todd. He instilled a passion for field ecology in me 12 years ago at a small field camp in Kenya and has continued to shape me into the ecologist I have become today. Without his brilliance this project would have never been conceived and the finished product would have paled in comparison to what it is now. Todd’s knowledge of African savanna ecology, scientific processes, psychology, bourbon, and especially life is unsurpassed, and I am grateful he imparted even a fraction of this wisdom on me. In short, I would not have written this thesis nor have had such an amazing and successful graduate career without him. I am also indebted to Dr. Katherine Baldock for introducing me to the world of pollination webs, bipartite, and network analysis. She was instrumental in the design and methodology of my project and without her guidance, I would still be lost trying to mathematically describe pollination networks. Her patience and persistence in answering question after question being passed across the Atlantic, often through broken skype chat, is beyond admirable. I cannot thank her enough for her help in initial pollinator identification and for sharing with and introducing me to her network of insect taxonomists. She was a most gracious host during my time at the University of Bristol where my network analysis took shape, and she makes a mean cup of British tea. Simply put, this research would not have occurred without her. I would also like to thank Dr. Juan Carlos Ruiz Guajardo for jump-starting my project while in Kenya. I am thankful for the knowledge of local flora he imparted on me 4 and for tidying up my on-the-ground field methods. Similarly, I thank Dr. Gavin Ballantyne for assistance in flower and pollinator identification and helpful discussion on pollination network structure and metrics. I am beyond grateful to my Kenyan field assistants Zachary Ntanyaki, Julius Olengingiro, and Peter Ekai. They worked tirelessly day after long day in the hot sun, always with a smile on their faces, and they saved me a time or two when elephants snuck up on me. Julius’ humor was calming and kept me grounded during the stressful times. I learned a great deal about the natural history of the area from Zachary, and boy could he wield a butterfly net! Peter was the pinning whiz, and he could work magic with forceps, a pin, and a micro pollinator. Without their help, I would still be watching plants and pinning insect. I would like to give a special thanks to all the staff at Mpala Research Centre. Who knew a field station in the middle of the bush could be so posh? Identifying 2,242 African insects was a daunting task. I am forever grateful to Laban Njoroge of the National Museum of Kenya for his assistance in helping me identify all of my specimens to family, for identifying all my coleopteran specimens to species, and for helping me wade through the permits and paperwork to export my insect specimens to the United States. I am also grateful to Dr. Gary Steck and Charles Whitehill of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for their invaluable advice on safely shipping fragile insect specimens around the world. I would like to extend a huge thanks to all of the insect taxonomists around the globe who worked diligently to identify poorly known African insects to species level. Being able to construct networks using such high-resolution data has helped to make this project world-class. I thank Mary Gikungu (Apoidea), Jane Macharia (Apoidea), the late Joseph 5 Mugambi (Lepidoptera), Alain Pauly (Halictidae), Connal Eardley (Apidae and Megachilidae), James Carpenter (Vespidae), Kevin Williams (Vespidae), Wojciech Pulawski (Sphecidae), Raymond Wahis (Pompilidae), Paolo Rosa (Chrysididae), Gerard en Toos Schulten (Scolidae), Donald Quicke (Braconidae), Simon Van Noort (Gasteruptiidae), Adrian Pont (Muscidae), John Deeming (Muscidae and Calliphoridae), Pierfilippo Cerretti (Tachinidae), Daniel Whitmore (Sarcophagidae), Andrew Whittington (Syrphidae), Neal Evenhuis (Bombyliidae), Jason Londt (Asilidae), Torsten Dikow (Asilidae), Gary Steck (Tephritidae), Andy Warren (Lepidoptera), James Hayden (Lepidoptera), Susan Halbert (Hemiptera), and Dino Martins (Formicidae) for their hard work identifying my insects. I would like to thank the other members of the Palmer lab—Patrick Milligan, Dr. Kirsten Prior, and Jessica Gunson—for their helpful discussions and logistic help both in Kenya and Florida. I am also greatly appreciative of Dr. Jacob Goheen, Dr. Rob Pringle, and Todd for letting me use their UHURU experiment to collect my data. I greatly appreciate the feedback and helpful suggestion provided to be by my committee members Dr. Colette St. Mary and Dr. Benjamin Baiser. I was funded by a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research, A Tropical Conservation and Development Field Research Grant, and the Brian Riewald Memorial Fund Research Grant and supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Grant No. DGE- 1315138). I thank the Kenyan government for allowing me to conduct research in their beautiful country (Permit No. NACOSTI/P/14/8685/1657). I would like to extend a special thank you to 8th grade science teacher Dave Adams for opening my mind to the awe-inspiring nature of science and Dr. Chris Walser 6 for introducing me to the joys (and struggles) of field ecology. Lucille Ramsey funded my undergraduate trip to Kenya where this journey all began. I will never forget that opportunity she provided for me. None of this work would have been possible without the support and love of my parents, Judy and Reg. They are the reason I am the person I am today. No matter the circumstance, they were always there for me. My mother has an uncanny ability to lift me out of the lows and put a smile back on my face. She kept me going every time I wanted to quit. I am forever indebted to her for all of her sacrifices and for everything she has given me. Do not underestimate how important in graduate school (or in life) it is to have a brother who is quick to say “Don’t worry, you will figure out R coding. Let’s go skiing!” Words cannot begin to express the gratitude I have for my girlfriend Elisha Kayser. She has been there for me during this entire wild ride. My project and life are certainly better because of her. She was a tremendous field assistant in Kenya, often finding solutions to field problems when I could not. She kept the project on target with her amazing logistical support, not to mention she’s an excellent insect pinner and packer. She put up with me being thousands of miles away and at times moved from her beloved mountains to Florida, in essence putting her life on hold so that I could pursue my dreams. I would not have made it through without her emotional support. She was always willing to drop everything she was doing at any moment to help me out. Graduate school was a great challenge, but it was certainly made easier because of Elisha. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 9 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 10 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 11 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 15 2 METHODS .............................................................................................................. 21 Study Site ............................................................................................................... 21 Study Design .......................................................................................................... 21 Sampling Methods .................................................................................................. 22 Network Metrics ...................................................................................................... 24 Data Analysis .........................................................................................................
Recommended publications
  • Facilitation Between Plants Shapes Pollination Networks
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/161034; this version posted July 9, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC 4.0 International license. Facilitation between plants shapes pollination networks Gianalberto Losapio1∗, Miguel A. Fortuna1, Jordi Bascompte1, Bernhard Schmid1, Richard Michalet2, Rainer Neumeyer3, Leopoldo Castro4, Pierfilippo Cerretti5, Christoph Germann6, Jean-Paul Haenni7, Seraina Klopfstein8, Javier Ortiz9, Adrian C. Pont10, Pascal Rousse11, J¨urgSchmid12, Daniele Sommaggio13, & Christian Sch¨ob1 1. Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland 2. University of Bordeaux, UMR 5805 EPOC, Avenue des Facult´es,33405, Talence cedex, France 3. Probsteistrasse 89, 8051 Zurich, Switzerland 4. Av. Sanz Gadea 9, 44002 Teruel, Spain 5. Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Universit`adi Roma La Sapienza, Viale dell'universit`a 32, 00185 Roma, Italy 6. Naturmuseum Solothurn, Klosterplatz 2, 4500 Solothurn, Switzerland 7. Mus´eumd'histoire naturelle, Entomologie, Rue des Terreaux 14, 2000 Neuch^atel,Switzer- land 8. Naturhistorisches Museum der Burgergemeinde Bern, WL, Bernastr. 15, 3005 Bern, Switzerland 9. Universidad de Almer´ıa,La Ca~nadade San Urbano, 04120 Almer´ıa,Spain 10. Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/161034; this version posted July 9, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
    [Show full text]
  • Pollination of Two Species of Ferocactus: Interactions Between Cactus-Specialist Bees and Their Host Plants
    Functional Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Ecology 2005 Pollination of two species of Ferocactus: interactions 19, 727–734 between cactus-specialist bees and their host plants M. E. MCINTOSH Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 1041 E. Lowell Street; BioSciences West, Room 310, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA Summary 1. Resolving the controversy over the prevalence of generalization in plant–pollinator interactions requires field studies characterizing the pollination effectiveness of all a plant’s floral visitors. Herein, the pollination effectiveness of all visitors to two species of barrel cactus (Ferocactus) was quantified. 2. Flowers of both species were pollinated almost exclusively by cactus-specialist bees: 99% (F. cylindraceus (Engelm.) Orcutt) and 94% (F. wislizeni (Engelm.) Britt. and Rose) of all seeds produced in this study resulted from cactus bee visits. 3. For F. cylindraceus, the cactus-specialist Diadasia rinconis was the most abundant visitor. For F. wislizeni, three cactus-specialists (including D. rinconis) plus generalists in the family Halictidae (which did not act as pollinators) each accounted for a quarter of all visits. 4. Diadasia rinconis visits to F. wislizeni flowers were more effective (per-visit) than visits by the other two cactus-specialists. 5. Pollen-collecting and nectar-collecting visits were equally effective. Nectar-collecting visits were the most abundant. 6. Apart from the non-pollinating halictids, floral visitors surprisingly did not include commonly co-occurring generalist bees. 7. These data suggest that, just as apparently specialized flowers may be visited by a diverse assemblage of generalists, so apparently generalized flowers may be visited predominantly by specialists, and that these specialists may perform virtually all of the pollination.
    [Show full text]
  • Plant Interactions Shape Pollination Networks Via Nonadditive Effects
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2019 Plant interactions shape pollination networks via nonadditive effects Losapio, Gianalberto ; Fortuna, Miguel A ; Bascompte, Jordi ; Schmid, Bernhard ; Michalet, Richard ; Neumeyer, Rainer ; Castro, Leopoldo ; Cerretti, Pierfilippo ; Germann, Christoph ; Haenni, Jean-Paul ; Klopfstein, Seraina ; Ortiz-Sanchez, Francisco Javier ; Pont, Adrian C ; Rousse, Pascal ; Schmid, Jürg ; Sommaggio, Daniele ; Schöb, Christian Abstract: Plants grow in communities where they interact with other plants and with other living organ- isms such as pollinators. On the one hand, studies of plant–plant interactions rarely consider how plants interact with other trophic levels such as pollinators. On the other, studies of plant–animal interac- tions rarely deal with interactions within trophic levels such as plant–plant competition and facilitation. Thus, to what degree plant interactions affect biodiversity and ecological networks across trophic levels is poorly understood. We manipulated plant communities driven by foundation species facilitation and sampled plant–pollinator networks at fine spatial scale in a field experiment in Sierra Nevada, Spain. We found that plant–plant facilitation shaped pollinator diversity and structured pollination networks. Nonaddictive effects of plant interactions on pollinator diversity and interaction diversity were synergistic in one foundation species networks while they were additive in another foundation species. Nonaddictive effects of plant interactions were due to rewiring of pollination interactions. In addition, plant facilitation had negative effects on the structure of pollination networks likely due to increase in plant competition for pollination. Our results empirically demonstrate how different network types are coupled, revealing pervasive consequences of interaction chains in diverse communities.
    [Show full text]
  • What Do We Currently Know About the Impacts of Pesticide and Fertiliser
    EKLIPSE pollinator conservation measures such as flower strips and hedgerows, and what additional research is needed? research and what additional such as flower strips and hedgerows, pollinator conservation measures of adjacent know about the impacts of pesticide and fertiliser use in farmland on effectiveness What do we currently What do we currently know about the impacts of pesticide and fertiliser use in farmland on the effectiveness of adjacent pollinator conservation measures such as flower strips and hedgerows, and what additional research is needed? An EKLIPSE Expert Working Group report www.eklipse-mechanism.eu What do we currently know about the impacts of pesticide and fertiliser use in farmland on the effectiveness of adjacent pollinator conservation measures such as flower strips and hedgerows, and what additional research is needed? An EKLIPSE Expert Working Group report Daniele Alberoni1, Anne Alix2, Lynn Dicks3, Anke C. Dietzsch4, André Krahner4, Stefan Kroder5, Sara Diana Leonhardt6, Veerle Mommaerts7, Nibedita Mukherjee8, Jeffery Pettis9, Noa Simon Delso10, Ana Sançana11, Adam J. Vanbergen12, Vasileios P. Vasileiadis13, Casper J. van der Kooi14, Sara Villa15, Penelope R. Whitehorn16, Thomas Wood17, Benjamin Woodcock18 1 Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari, University of Bologna, Italy 2 Corteva Agrisciences, Milton Park, Abingdon, UK 3 Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK 4 Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Bee Protection, Germany 5 ADAMA Deutschland GmbH, Germany 6 Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Technical University of Munich, Germany 7 Bayer Crop Science SA-NV, Belgium 8 University of Exeter and University of Cambridge, UK 9 Pettis and Associates LLC, Salisbury, MD USA 10 Beekeeping Research and Information Centre (CARI), Belgium 11 Beekeepers Portuguese Cooperative LOUSÃMEL, Portugal 12 Agroécologie, AgroSup Dijon, INRAE, Univ.
    [Show full text]
  • Plants Are the Drivers of Geographic Variation of Floral Scents in a Highly Specialized Pollination Mutualism: a Study of Ficus Hirta in China
    Plants Are the Drivers of Geographic Variation of Floral Scents in a Highly Specialized Pollination Mutualism: a Study of Ficus Hirta in China Deng Xiaoxia CEFE: Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive Buatois Bruno CEFE: Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive Peng Yan-Qiong XTBG: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden Hui Yu ( [email protected] ) South China Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of Sciences https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0074-9153 Cheng Yufen South China Botanical Garden Kjellberg Finn CEFE: Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive Prot Magali CEFE Research article Keywords: Geographic variation, mutualism, coevolution, volatile organic compounds, Ficus Posted Date: February 5th, 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-192226/v1 License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Page 1/12 Abstract Background Floral volatiles play an important role in pollinator attraction. This is particularly true in obligate brood site pollination mutualisms. The plants generally produce inconspicuous owers and depend on odours to attract to their inorescences specialised pollinators that breed in their oral structures. Little is known about the processes shaping the micro-evolution of these oral odours. Here, we investigate geographic variation of oral odour in an obligate host- specic brood site pollination mutualism where plant and pollinator genetic structures are different, Ficus hirta and its specialised pollinators. Results We evidence progressive geographic divergence of oral odours. The pattern of variation ts plant genetic structure but differs from pollinating insect structuring into species and populations. In our study system, the evolution of receptive oral odour presents a pattern that is not distinguishable from neutral drift that is not canalised by the insects.
    [Show full text]
  • Phylogenetic Distance Among Beneficiary Species in a Cushion Plant Species Explains Interaction Outcome
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2015 Phylogenetic distance among beneficiary species in a cushion plant species explains interaction outcome Pistón, Nuria ; Armas, Cristina ; Schöb, Christian ; Macek, Petr ; Pugnaire, Francisco I Abstract: Determining which drivers lead to a specific species assemblage is a central issue in com- munity ecology. Although many processes are involved, plant–plant interactions are among the most important. The phylogenetic limiting similarity hypothesis states that closely related species tend to compete stronger than distantly related species, although evidence is inconclusive. We used ecological and phylogenetic data on alpine plant communities along an environmental severity gradient to assess the importance of phylogenetic relatedness in affecting the interaction between cushion plants and the whole community, and how these interactions may affect community assemblage and diversity. We first measured species richness and individual biomass of species growing within and outside the nurse cushion species, Arenaria tetraquetra. We then assembled the phylogenetic tree of species present in both com- munities and calculated the phylogenetic distance between the cushion species and its beneficiary species, as well as the phylogenetic community structure. We also estimated changes in species richness at the local level due to the presence of cushions. The effects of cushions on closely related species changed from negative to positive as environmental conditions became more severe, while the interaction with distantly related species did not change along the environmental gradient. Overall, we found an environmental context-dependence in patterns of phylogenetic similarity, as the interaction outcome between nurses and their close and distantly-related species showed an opposite pattern with environmental severity.
    [Show full text]
  • Breeding Biologies, Seed Production and Species-Rich Bee Guilds of Cleome Lutea and Cleome Serrulata (Cleomaceae)
    Plant Species Biology (2008) 23, 152–158 doi: 10.1111/j.1442-1984.2008.00224.x Breeding biologies, seed production and species-rich bee guilds of Cleome lutea and Cleome serrulata (Cleomaceae) JAMES H. CANE US Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service, Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory, Utah State University, Logan 84322–5310, United States of America Abstract The summer-blooming annual forbs Cleome lutea and Cleome serrulata (Cleomaceae) are native across the US Intermountain West and Rocky Mountains, respectively. Their farmed seed is sought to help rehabilitate western rangelands in those regions. This study of the reproductive biologies and pollinator faunas of C. lutea and C. serrulata is the first for this cosmopolitan family, the sister family to the Brassicaceae. Unlike the S-allele self-incompatibility systems of some Brassicaceae, both species of Cleome were found to be self-fertile and capable of some autogamy. Compared with selfing, outcrossing did not enhance seed set, seed viability or seedling vigor for either species (in fact, selfed progeny were more robust). Large, openly visited plants yielded >20 000 seeds each. Like several species of the sister family Capparaceae, flowers of both species first shed their pollen, secreted nectar and became receptive nocturnally. Although no nocturnal visitors were found, both Cleome species attracted a diverse array of diurnal native bees, wasps and butterflies. Among the many floral generalist bees that work Cleome flowers for pollen and nectar are two managed agricultural pollinators, Apis mellifera and Megachile rotun- data. These observations bode well for pollinating C. lutea and C. serrulata in small commercial seed fields.
    [Show full text]
  • Agricultural University of Athens Department of Crop Science Laboratory of Pesticide Science
    AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS DEPARTMENT OF CROP SCIENCE LABORATORY OF PESTICIDE SCIENCE EVALUATION OF BIOACTIVITY OF PHYTOTOXINS FROM PATHOGENIC FUNGI OF OROBANCHE SP SUH CHRISTOPHER Ph.D THESIS Athens March 2011 Ph.D THESIS EVALUATION OF BIOACTIVITY OF PHYTOTOXINS FROM PATHOGENIC FUNGI OF OROBANCHE SP SUH CHRISTOPHER Supervisor: Prof. Maria Chrysayi Three member supervisory committee Prof. Maria Chrysayi Prof. Moschos Polissiou Asst. Prof Anastasios Markoglou Seven member examining committee Prof. Maria Chrysayi – Agricultural University of Athens Prof. Moschos Polissiou- Agricultural University of Athens Asst. Prof Anastasios Markoglou - Agricultural University of Athens Prof. Panagiotis Efthimiadis - Agricultural University of Athens Prof. Konstantinou Violeta- Agricultural University of Athens Prof. George Vassiliou - Demokritos University of Thrace Dr. Nikolaos Fokialakis- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens March 2011 Η παρούσα διατριβή εκπονήθηκε με υποτροφία από το Ίδρυμα Κρατικών Υποτροφιών (ΙΚΥ) «Η έγκριση της διδακτορικής διατριβής από τη Γενική Συνέλευση του Τμήματος Επιστήμης Φυτικής Παραγωγής του Γεωπονικού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών, δεν υποδηλώνει αποδοχή των γνωμών του συγγραφέα» Νόμος 5343/32, άρθρο. 202§2 APPRECIATION It is with pleasure that I show appreciation to all those who have contributed in one way or the other to see me through this uphill task. First and foremost, I am grateful to God almighty for his love and protection throughout my studies. I am especially grateful to my supervisor, Prof. Maria Chrysayi for her relentless efforts to see that this work is done. In fact her motherly role in encouraging me gave me the courage not to give up even when the road was rough. Prof, I am really grateful.
    [Show full text]
  • Brassicaceae
    Wild Crucifer Species as Sources of Traits Wild Crucifer Species as Sources of Agronomic Traits The following guide to the wild germplasm of Brassica and allied crops reviews the potential of wild crucifers, particularly members of the tribe Brassiceae, as sources of agronomic traits. In addition to traditional breeding methods, interspecific and intergeneric transfer of genes governing qualitative and quantitative characters from wild allies to cultivated forms will be facilitated with various in vitro methods, such as somatic cell genetics and recombinant DNA techniques (See Guide Part III). Examples of genetic variability in potential agronomic traits of germplasms of Brassica and related genera (Tribe Brassiceae) will be presented under 14 sections. Data will be presented for all species in the Family. CONTENTS 1. GERMPLASM 1.1 Brassicaceae Species Checklist 1.2 North American Germplasm – Tribe Brassiceae 1.2.1 North American Ethnobotany 1.2.2 Weed and Crop Species in Canada 1.2.3 Weed and Crop Species in U.S.A. and Mexico 1.2.4 Invasives 2. MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS 2.1 Hairs/Trichomes 2.2 Leaf Thickness/Waxiness 2.3 Petal Colour 2.4 Resistance to Pod Shattering 2.5 Growth Form and Geocarpy 2.6 Floral Structure 2.7 Fruit Type and Dispersal 2.8 Seed Size 2.9 Vegetative Reproduction 3. GENOME ARRANGEMENT 3.1 Chromosome Numbers 3.2 Genome Size 3.3 Genome Comparative Mapping 3.4 Cruciferae: Compendium of Trait Genetics 4. CHEMICAL TRAITS 4.1 Fatty Acids 4.2 Glucosinolates (mustard oil glucosides) 4.3 Phenolics 4.4 Secondary Metabolites/Floral Pigments 4.5 Anti-pest/Allelopathy 4.6 Flavonoids 4.7 Peroxidases 4.8 Tocopherols 4.9 Nectar Production Wild Crucifer Species as Sources of Traits 4.10 Mucilage 4.11 Cyanide 5.
    [Show full text]
  • A Generalized Pollination System in the Tropics: Bats, Birds and Aphelandra Acanthus
    Annals of Botany 103: 1481–1487, 2008 doi:10.1093/aob/mcn260, available online at www.aob.oxfordjournals.org A generalized pollination system in the tropics: bats, birds and Aphelandra acanthus Nathan Muchhala1,*, Angelica Caiza2, Juan Carlos Vizuete2 and James D. Thomson1 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G5, Canada and 2Departamento de Biologı´a, Universidad Central, Quito, Ecuador Received: 14 September 2008 Returned for revision: 20 October 2008 Accepted: 20 November 2008 Published electronically: 8 January 2009 † Background and Aims A number of different types of flower-visiting animals coexist in any given habitat. What evolutionary and ecological factors influence the subset of these that a given plant relies on for its pollination? Addressing this question requires a mechanistic understanding of the importance of different potential pollinators in terms of visitation rate (pollinator ‘quantity’) and effectiveness at transferring pollen (pollinator ‘quality’) is required. While bat-pollinated plants typically are highly specialized to bats, there are some instances of bat-pollinated plants that use other pollinators as well. These generalized exceptions tend to occur in habitats where bat ‘quantity’ is poor due to low or fluctuating bat densities. † Methods Aphelandra acanthus occurs in tropical cloud forests with relatively high densities of bat visitors, yet displays a mix of floral syndrome characteristics, suggesting adaptation to multiple types of pollinators. To under- stand its pollination system better, aspects of its floral phenology and the ‘quantity’ and ‘quality’ components of pollination by its floral visitors are studied here. † Key Results Flowers were found to open and senesce throughout the day and night, although anther dehiscence was restricted to the late afternoon and night.
    [Show full text]
  • Functional Plant Types Drive Plant Interactions in a Mediterranean Mountain Range
    fpls-07-00662 May 19, 2016 Time: 12:26 # 1 View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Frontiers - Publisher Connector ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 23 May 2016 doi: 10.3389/fpls.2016.00662 Functional Plant Types Drive Plant Interactions in a Mediterranean Mountain Range Petr Macek1,2*†, Iván Prieto2,3*†, Jana Macková2,4, Nuria Pistón2,5 and Francisco I. Pugnaire2 1 Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceskéˇ Budejovice,ˇ Czech Republic, 2 LINCGlobal, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Almería, Spain, 3 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive UMR 5175, Université de Montpellier – Université Paul Valéry – EPHE, Montpellier, France, 4 Institute of Soil Biology, Biology Centre CAS, Ceskéˇ Budejovice,ˇ Czech Republic, 5 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Shrubs have positive (facilitation) and negative (competition) effects on understory plants, the net interaction effect being modulated by abiotic conditions. Overall shrubs influence to great extent the structure of plant communities where they have significant presence. Interactions in a plant community are quite diverse but little is known about their variability and effects at community level. Here we checked the effects of co- occurring shrub species from different functional types on a focal understory species, Edited by: determining mechanisms driving interaction outcome, and tested whether effects Boris Rewald, measured on the focal species were a proxy for effects measured at the community University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria level. Growth, physiological, and reproductive traits of Euphorbia nicaeensis, our focal Reviewed by: species, were recorded on individuals growing in association with four dominant Oren Shelef, shrub species and in adjacent open areas.
    [Show full text]
  • From Microhabitat to Ecosystem: Identifying the Biophysical Factors Controlling Soil CO2 Dynamics in a Karst Shrubland
    European Journal of Soil Science, November 2018, 69, 1018–1029 doi: 10.1111/ejss.12710 From microhabitat to ecosystem: identifying the biophysical factors controlling soil CO2 dynamics in a karst shrubland C. J. R. Lopeza , E. P. Sánchez-Cañeteb,c , P. Serrano-Ortizb,d, A. López-Ballesterosa,d,F.Domingoa,A.S.Kowalskib,c & C. Oyonartee aDepartment of Desertification and Geo-Ecology, Experimental Station of Arid Zones (EEZA-CSIC), Ctra. Sacramento s/n, 04120La Cañada, Almería, Spain, bInter-University Institute for Earth System Research (IISTA-CEAMA), Av. del Mediterráneo s/n, 18006, Granada, Spain, cDepartment of Applied Physics, University of Granada (UGR), Av. de Fuente Nueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain, dDepartment of Ecology, University of Granada (UGR), Av. de Fuente Nueva s/n, 18071, Granada, Spain, and eDepartment of Agronomy, University of Almería (UAL), Ctra. Sacramento s/n, 04120 La Cañada, Almería, Spain Summary The soil CO2 efflux (Fs) remains the least constrained component of the terrestrial carbon cycle; its estimates are still largely uncertain, mainly because of its considerable variation related to the many factors that interact over different temporal and spatial scales. Therefore, our aims were to: (i) identify the biophysical factors that control the soil CO2 molar fraction ( s) and characterize their time-frequency patterns in a karst shrubland, (ii) explore s variation with soil cover type (microhabitat) and (iii) estimate Fs at the ecosystem scale. Continuous measure- ments of aboveground variables, including net CO2 exchanges at the ecosystem level, were compared with pedo- climatic variables collected from four microhabitats (Festuca scariosa (Lag.) Asch. & Graebn., Hormathophylla spinosa (L.) P.
    [Show full text]