Skip Navigation



AOBPreview published online on February 10, 2005
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mci094
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
95/5/879    most recent
mci094v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by ASIKAINEN, E.
Right arrow Articles by MUTIKAINEN, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by ASIKAINEN, E.
Right arrow Articles by MUTIKAINEN, P.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by ASIKAINEN, E.
Right arrow Articles by MUTIKAINEN, P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Received October 21, 2004
Revised December 2, 2004
Accepted January 6, 2005

Article

Preferences of Pollinators and Herbivores in Gynodioecious Geranium sylvaticum

EIJA ASIKAINEN 1* and PIA MUTIKAINEN 2

1 Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, FIN-20014 Turku, Finland
2 Department of Biology, University of Oulu, P.O. BOX 3000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
EIJA ASIKAINEN, E-mail: eija.asikainen{at}utu.fi


  Abstract

• Background and Aims For the maintenance of gynodioecy (i.e. the coexistence of female and hermaphroditic plants), females need to compensate for the lack of pollen production through higher seed production or better progeny quality compared to hermaphrodites. In Geranium sylvaticum, females produce more seeds per flower than hermaphrodites. This difference in seed production might be modified by biological interactions with pollinators and herbivores that may favour one sex and thus affect the maintenance of gynodioecy.

• Methods Sexual dimorphism in flower size and flowering phenology, and in attractiveness to pollinators, pre-dispersal seed predators and floral herbivores were examined in natural populations of G. sylvaticum.

• Key Results Pollinators preferred hermaphrodites 25 % more often than females in two of the three study populations, and floral herbivores attacked hermaphrodites 15 % more often than females in two of the six study populations. These preferences might be explained by the larger flower size of hermaphrodites. In contrast, seed predators did not prefer either sex.

• Conclusions The data suggest that pollinator preference does not benefit females, whereas the higher floral herbivory of hermaphrodites might enhance the maintenance of females in G. sylvaticum. Thus, although the data support the view that ecological factors may contribute to the maintenance of gynodioecy, they also suggest that these contributions may vary across populations and that they may function in opposite directions.

Keywords: Floral herbivory, flowering phenology, Geraniaceae, Geranium sylvaticum, gynodioecy, petal size, pollinator attraction, seed predation.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 ANN BOT (LOND)Home page
T. R. Meagher
Linking the Evolution of Gender Variation to Floral Development
Ann. Bot., August 1, 2007; 100(2): 165 - 176.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Bot.Home page
S.-M. Chang
Gender-specific inbreeding depression in a gynodioecious plant, Geranium maculatum (Geraniaceae)
Am. J. Botany, July 1, 2007; 94(7): 1193 - 1204.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Bot.Home page
S.-M. Chang
Female compensation through the quantity and quality of progeny in a gynodioecious plant, Geranium maculatum (Geraniaceae)
Am. J. Botany, February 1, 2006; 93(2): 263 - 270.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.