Pollination by hummingbirds of Vriesea gigantea (Bromeliaceae) populations in Southern Brazil

Abstract The pollination syndrome hypothesis usually does not successfully apply to the diversity of floral phenotypes or help predict the pollinators of most plant species. In Bromeliaceae, there is a wide range of floral visitors, making its species ideal to test for a correlation between nectar and floral traits with pollination syndrome. In this study, we analyzed the floral features, nectar production patterns, pollinators and floral visitors of Vriesea gigantea, and discussed its potential adaptive and ecological significance. We study three natural populations from the Atlantic Forest, Southern Brazil. The species presented protogyny and herkogamy, and its anthesis occurred at different periods among different populations. Vriesea gigantea has a relatively constant rate of nectar production during the day that continues overnight but at a reduced rate. Newly opened flowers already have around 80.0 μl of nectar. Although classified as chiropterophilous, based on flower morphology and pollinator observations, our results show that hummingbirds are effective pollinators in the studied populations of V. gigantea.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Paggi,Gecele Matos, Palma-Silva,Clarisse, Bered,Fernanda
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro 2021
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2175-78602021000100244
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!