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The Effect Of Pollination On Floral Fragrance in Thistles

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Abstract

We investigated postpollination changes in fragrance composition and emission rates, as well as pollinator discrimination in hand-pollinated flower heads of two thistle species: Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) and sandhill thistle (C. repandum). Following pollination, neither species emitted any novel compounds that could function as repellents. Scent emission rates declined in pollinated plants of both species by approximately 89% within 48 hr. This decline was evident in all 13 scent components of C. arvense. Apis mellifera, the dominant pollinator in the study population of C. arvense, was nearly three times more likely to visit an unpollinated rather than a pollinated flower head. A more complex pattern was observed for C. repandum, whose scent comprised 42 compounds. Quantities of aromatic and sesquiterpenoid volatiles declined after pollination, whereas two classes of scent compounds, fatty acid derivatives and monoterperpenoids, continued to be emitted. In C. repandum, discrimination against pollinated flower heads by Papilio palamedes (its primary pollinator) was not as marked. Unpollinated control plants of both species maintained moderate levels of scent production throughout this experiment, demonstrating that senescence and floral advertisement may be delayed until pollination has occurred. We expect postpollination changes in floral scent contribute to communication between plants with generalized pollinator spectra and their floral visitors. This study provides the first field study of such a phenomenon outside of orchids.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the staff from Clemson University at the Belle Baruch Lab in Georgetown, SC, especially Alreda Grate and Jeffery Vernon. We also thank the staff at the Wallkill Fish & Wildlife National Refuge in Sussex, NJ. For the use of laboratory facilities in New Jersey, we thank Martha Hughes and Vicky Acosta at Sussex Community College, and David Slaymaker of William Patterson University. For field assistance, we thank Sarah Brice, Daniel McManus, Laurel Reid, and Eileen Rios. Many thanks are also due to Bill Dougherty and John Craig of Shimadzu Scientific, Inc., for technical expertise with GC-MS. For support at all stages of this work, we are grateful to Manuel Lerdau and Karsten Theis. This research was supported by an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DEB# 0206300), Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research, American Museum of Natural History Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund, US Department of Education GAANN Fellowship, Stony Brook University, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Sokal Travel Award, The Explorers Club Exploration Fund.

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  1. Nina Theis

    Present address: Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

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  1. Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA

    Nina Theis

  2. Department of Biology, University of South Carolina, Coker Life Sciences Building, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Robert A. Raguso

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Theis, N., Raguso, R.A. The Effect Of Pollination On Floral Fragrance in Thistles. J Chem Ecol 31, 2581–2600 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-005-7615-9

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