Pollination Ecology • Community Ecology • Pollen • Pollination • Self-pollination • Wind: Anemophily • Animal Pollination (Zoophily) • Consequences of Animal Pollination What is a community? • Community: a group of • Co-evolution populations that coexist in – led to ideas of plant space and time and defense interact with one another – pollination ecology directly or indirectly – other plant-animal interactions: seed dispersal • Species interactions: affect one another’s population dynamics • Natural selection and co- evolution may follow Pollination Syndromes • Can be (+,+) interaction • Plant-animal interaction • Pollen grains • size tens of microns Pollination • Dependence on breeding system • Self-pollination • Pollen/ovule ratio Pollination • flower morphology • surface – wind: smooth – animal: sculptured • Packages (animal only) Delphinium – dyads and tetrads (Ericaceae) – Pollina (orchids & Asclepicadaceae) – viscin threads (Fabaceae & Onagraceae) Grass (Poa pratensis) Pollination syndromes • Self-pollination • Wind •Insect •Birds •Mammals Prevention of self pollination Primula spp.: long and short style Form. Self pollination difficult Wind: Anemophily • lacks precision – long range – some weeds 1.25 million pollen grains – Hazel: 600 million – common where conspecifics close by – vegetation open seasonally – environmental cues coordinate flowering Animal Pollination (Zoophily) •Insect • Vertebrates • Pollination syndromes – Flower morphology – odor – color – shape • nectar reward – sucrose/glucose/fructose concentrations Insect Insect Color cues Birds Pollinator rewards Mammals Consequences of Animal Pollination • Distance/Direction • Constancy • Vector behavior • Handling time • Distance/Direction • Constancy Distribution of insect species Gene flow • genetic consequences – Impact on fertilization – gene flow limited – Raphanus sativus • Problems – non-pollinating visitors Variation in distance traveled by Plantago lanceolata pollen clumps as a function of size.