Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:29:35.580Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Staminodes influence pollen removal and deposition rates in nectar-rewarding self-incompatible Phanera yunnanensis (Caesalpinioideae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2019

Menglin Wang
Affiliation:
CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Tancha, Onna-son, 904-0495, Okinawa, Japan
Shuyin Huang
Affiliation:
CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China
Manru Li
Affiliation:
CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
Doyle McKey
Affiliation:
CEFE, CNRS, University of Montpellier, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, EPHE, IRD, 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier, France
Ling Zhang*
Affiliation:
CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China

Abstract

Staminodes are sterile stamens that produce no pollen, exhibit diverse structures and perform various functions. Flowers of Phanera yunnanensis possess three fertile stamens with large anthers and long filaments, and seven staminodes with tiny anthers and short filaments. To investigate the adaptive significance of staminodes in this species, we studied effects of staminode removal on pollen removal and deposition, flower visitation rate and fruit set in Xishuangbanna, south-western China. Four species of nectar-foraging pollinators visited flowers, mostly Amegilla zonata and Apis cerana (2.80 ± 0.15 and 1.76 ± 0.41 visits h−1 per flower, respectively). Staminode removal did not affect fruit set, but increased visitation by A. cerana by 2.6-fold, reduced visitation by A. zonata by 68% and increased the pollen removal rate for both pollinators (all effects were significant). Staminode removal significantly reduced pollen deposition rate for A. zonata, but not for A. cerana. These results suggest that the staminodes of P. yunnanensis filter which insects act as pollinators and affect pollen removal and deposition rates. By reducing pollen removal rates, staminodes may implement a pollen-dispensing schedule that spreads pollen dispersal from individual flowers over multiple pollinators. By altering pollen deposition rates, staminodes may influence reproductive fitness in other ways.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature cited

Barrett, SCH (2002) Sexual interference of the floral kind. Heredity 88, 154159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cane, JH (1993) Reproductive role of sterile pollen in cryptically dioecious species of flowering plants. Current Science 65, 223225.Google Scholar
Chen, DCH, Zhang, DX, Larsen, K and Larsen, SS (2010) Bauhinia. Flora of China 10, 621.Google Scholar
Cronquist, A (1981) An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants. New York: Columbia University Press, 1262 pp.Google Scholar
Cruden, RWR (1977) Pollen-ovule ratios: a conservative indicator of breeding systems in flowering plants. Evolution 31, 3246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dafni, A and Maués, MM (1998) A rapid and simple procedure to determine stigma receptivity. Sexual Plant Reproduction 11, 177180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dieringer, G and Cabrera, LR (2002) The interaction between pollinator size and the bristle staminode of Penstemon digitalis (Scrophulariaceae). American Journal of Botany 89, 991997.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffy, KJ and Johnson, SD (2015) Staminal hairs enhance fecundity in the pollen-rewarding self-incompatible lily Bulbine abyssinica. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 177, 481490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Endress, PK (1984) The role of inner staminodes in the floral display of some relic Magnoliales. Plant Systematics and Evolution 146, 269282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleiser, G, Internicol, AAI, Austerlitz, F and Bernasconi, G (2014) Stabilizing selection on nectar concentration in wild Petunia axillaris, as revealed by genetic analysis of pollen dispersal. Evolutionary Ecology 28, 869884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guimarães, E, Di Stasi, LC and Mainoni-Rodella, RDCS (2008) Pollination biology of Jacaranda oxyphylla with an emphasis on staminode function. Annals of Botany 102, 699711.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hao, G, Zhang, DX, Zhang, MY, Guo, LX and Li, SJ (2003) Phylogenetics of Bauhinia subgenus Phanera (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) based on ITS sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Botanical Bulletin of Academia Sinica 44, 223228.Google Scholar
Harder, LD and Thomson, JD (1989) Evolutionary options for maximizing pollen dispersal of animal-pollinated plants. American Naturalist 133, 323344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawk, JL and Tepedino, VJ (2007) The effect of staminode removal on female reproductive success in a Wyoming population of the endangered Blowout Penstemon, Penstemon haydenii (Scrophulariaceae). Madroño 54, 2226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hokche, O and Ramirez, N (1990) Pollination ecology of seven species of Bauhinia L. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 77, 559572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, SY (1993) Experimental methods in plant embryology (i) determination of pollen viability. Chinese Bulletin of Botany 10, 6062.Google Scholar
Jin, H, Jiao, GJ and Chen, G (2015) Observation on flowering process, floral morphology and flower visiting insects of Melastoma candidum f. albiflorum. Journal of Plant Resources and Environment 24, 7379.Google Scholar
Kaul, V and Koul, AK (2012) Staminal variation and its possible significance in Commelina benghalensis L. and Commelina caroliniana Walter. Current Science 103, 419426.Google Scholar
Lau, CPY, Saunders, RMK and Ramsden, L (2009) Floral biology, breeding systems and population genetic structure of three climbing Bauhinia species (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) in Hong Kong, China. Journal of Tropical Ecology 25, 147159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ley, AC and Claßen-Bockhoff, R (2012) Floral synorganization and its influence on mechanical isolation and autogamy in Marantaceae. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 168, 300322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieftinck, MA (1968) A review of Old World species of Thyreus Panzer (= Crocisa Jurine) (Hym., Apoidea, Anthophoridae) Part 4. Palearctic species. Zoologische Verhandelingen 98, 1139.Google Scholar
Lunau, K (2000) The ecology and evolution of visual pollen signals. Plant Systematics and Evolution 222, 89111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luo, C, Li, K, Chen, Y, Sun, Y and Yang, W (2007) Pollen viability, stigma receptivity and reproductive features of Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae). Acta Botanica Boreali-Occidentalia Sinica 27, 19942001. (In Chinese with English abstract.)Google Scholar
Neto, HFP (2013) Floral biology and breeding system of Bauhinia forficata (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae), a moth-pollinated tree in southeastern Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Botany 36, 5564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramirez, N, Sobrevil, AC, Enbech, NXD and Ruiz-Zapata, T (1984) Floral biology and breeding system of Bauhinia benthamiana Taub.(Leguminosae), a bat-pollinated tree in Venezuelan “llanos”. American Journal of Botany 71, 273280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ronse Decraene, LP and Smets, EF (2001) Staminodes: their morphological and evolutionary significance. Botanical Review 67, 351402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandvik, SM and Totland, Ø (2003) Quantitative importance of staminodes for female reproductive success in Parnassia palustris under contrasting environmental conditions. Canadian Journal of Botany 81, 4956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlessman, MA (1986) Floral protogyny, self-compatibility and the pollination of Ourisia macrocarpa (Scrophulariaceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 24, 651656.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinou, C, Forest, F, Lewis, GP and Bruneau, A (2009) The genus Bauhinia s.l. (Leguminosae): a phylogeny based on the plastid Trn L–Trn F region. Botany 87, 947960.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verma, S, Magotra, R and Koul, AK (2004) Stylar movement avoids self pollination and promotes cross pollination in Eremurus himalaicus. Current Science 87, 872873.Google Scholar
Vogel, S (1954) Blütenbiologische Typen als Elemente der Sippengliederung. Botanical Studies 1, 1338.Google Scholar
Walker-Larsen, J and Harder, LD (2000) The evolution of staminodes in angiosperms: patterns of stamen reduction, loss, and functional re-invention. American Journal of Botany 87, 13671384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker-Larsen, J and Harder, LD (2001) Vestigial organs as opportunities for functional innovation: the example of the Penstemon staminode. Evolution 55, 477487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wunderlin, RP (2010a) Reorganization of the Cercideae (Fabaceae: Caesalpinioideae). Phytoneuron 48, 15.Google Scholar
Wunderlin, RP (2010b) New combinations in Schnella (Fabaceae: Caesalpiniodeae: Cercideae). Phytoneuron 49, 15.Google Scholar
Wunderlin, RP (2011) New combination in Phanera (Fabaceae). Phytoneuron 19, 12.Google Scholar
Zhang, Z (2013) Reproductive Ecology of Phalaenopsis pulcherrima (Orchidaceae), a Species Endemic to East Asia. PhD dissertation. Hai Nan University, Haikou, China. (In Chinese with English abstract.)Google Scholar