Journal
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Volume 17, Issue 3, Pages 295-303Publisher
BLACKWELL PUBLISHING ASIA
DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1703.2002.00489.x
Keywords
Akebia quinata; deceptive pollination; floral dimorphism; geitonogamous pollination; unisexual flowers
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We investigated the pollination system and movement patterns of pollinators among flowers of the nectarless, monoecious vine Akebia quinata in natural populations and experimental floral arrays. Female flowers did not offer any rewards for pollinators and were larger than male flowers. Pollinators of A. quinata , such as small solitary bees and hoverflies, clearly discriminated between male and female flowers. Hoverflies always visited male flowers and rarely visited female flowers. In contrast, solitary bees tended to visit female flowers first when entering the array, but then switched to male flowers within the same foraging bout. This tendency disappeared when the sepal size of female flowers was experimentally reduced to the size of male flowers. Thus, observed non-randomness in flower choice by solitary bees may be caused by female > male sexual dimorphism and may increase the chance of cross-pollination and lower the probability of geitonogamous pollination in a single visit to a plant. Therefore, floral sexual dimorphism in A. quinata is considered to be an adaptation for deceptive pollination associated with discriminating pollinators.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available