Title
Decorative sterile flowers in nine Japanese species of Viburnum (Adoxaceae) and their influence on pollinator visits
Date Issued
01 October 2021
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Abstract
Framed inflorescences are unique arrangements in which a cluster of small fertile flowers is surrounded by several larger, decorative sterile flowers. Viburnum (Adoxaceae) species vary in their inflorescence arrangements; some species exhibit framed inflorescences, whereas others do not. We hypothesize that the decorative flowers increase the pollinator-attracting functions of the inflorescences; as proved by previous studies, they additionally function as landing-sites for pollinators. To test our hypotheses, field manipulation experiments were carried out for nine Viburnum species, three with inherently framed inflorescences and six without them: sterile flowers were removed and mounted on species with and without framed inflorescences, respectively. Results show that inflorescences with decorative flowers had higher visit rates than inflorescences without them, and that insect flower visitors did not show landing preference for either flower type. These results suggest that decorative flowers appeared only in a subset of Viburnum species to increase their pollination chances by, mainly, enhancing the attractiveness of the inflorescence. It is likely that species without framed inflorescences use other attraction-enhancing mechanisms, such as a high flowering synchrony within a single cluster of fertile flowers, a trait found in most studied species without decorative flowers.
Start page
567
End page
577
Volume
36
Issue
4
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias de las plantas, Botánica
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85109134319
Source
Plant Species Biology
ISSN of the container
0913557X
Sponsor(s)
This study was partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, KAKENHI Grant Numbers, 22247003, 15H02420 granted to MK. We would like to thank Yume Imada for providing helpful observations and insights on the manuscript, and the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which greatly helped improve the original version of the manuscript.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus