Journal
SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY
Volume 78, Issue -, Pages 63-74Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.sajb.2011.05.015
Keywords
Cameroon; Impatiens sakeriana; Nectar; Pollination; Sunbird
Categories
Funding
- Czech Science Foundation [206/08/H044]
- Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic [LC 06073]
- Grant Agency of the Czech Academy of Sciences [IAA601410709]
- Grant Agency of the Czech Republic [P505/11/1617]
- GAJU [136/2010/P]
- [AV0Z60050516]
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Adaptations of the nectar traits in bird-pollinated flowers are amongst the most discussed aspects of floral evolution. In the case of sunbird-pollinated plants, data on nectar traits originate almost exclusively from the South African region and are very scarce for tropical Africa, where paradoxically the highest sunbird diversity occurs. Here we present a study on the nectar properties of a sunbird-pollinated plant, Impatiens sakeriana, growing in the West African mountains, including the nectar production, diurnal changes in the nectar standing crop, the nectar concentrations, the nectar volumes, total sugar amounts and sugar composition. Moreover we compare the nectar traits of l. sakeriana with six other co-flowering insect-visited plant species. Our results showed that many nectar properties, including high volume (approx. 38 mu L in flowers unvisited by sunbirds), low sugar concentration (approx. 30% w/w) and high sucrose content (95%), are specific to I. sakeriana, compared to the insect-visited plants. These are in accordance with the most recent theory that nectar properties of the sunbird-pollinated plants are similar to those pollinated by hummingbirds. (C) 2011 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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