Abstract
We studied the extrinsic factors behind the low number of offspring in two populations of Anagyris foetida, a bird-pollinated leguminous shrub of the Mediterranean region. Fruit initiation was pollen limited, but fruit maturation was not. This limiting effect varied between flowering seasons and between populations, and also within a given phenological stage. In the first season, the early flowers had the lowest fruit set, while in the second season fruit set was highest in these early flowers. This was possibly related to the pollination environment. Seed initiation (fertilized ovules) increased following pollen supplementation, but this was not translated into a significant increase in either the number of seeds per fruit, or seed mass. This indicates that seed initiation is pollen limited but that other factors (e.g., resource availability) are involved in seed maturation. Abiotic factors such as excess humidity during flowering were responsible for the loss of inflorescences, especially in one of the two populations. In this population, the prevailing wind in autumn-winter was less effective in drying the flowers when there was excess humidity. Also, significantly fewer inflorescences were lost from solitary plants than from clustered plants, probably reflecting the beneficial action of the wind and the greater light levels during flowering. Of the biotic factors analyzed, sheep predation was the most important, being worse in drought years. This predation, by affecting population density, could modify the plant-pollinator interaction and severely reduce the plant’s breeding success because of its pollen limitation.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain through projects BOS2002-00703 and CGL2005-00783/BOS, both co-financed by ERDF. A pre-doctoral grant of that Ministry to FJV (BES-2003-2187) is greatly appreciated. We thank Dr. R.A. Wesselingh and an anonymous referee for their comments and criticisms that notably improved the earlier draft and Dr. Miguel González for statistical assistance.
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Valtueña, F.J., Ortega-Olivencia, A., Rodríguez-Riaño, T. et al. Causes of Low Fruit and Seed Set in Bird-Pollinated Anagyris foetida (Leguminosae): Pollen Limitation and Other Extrinsic Factors. Folia Geobot 45, 77–94 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-009-9054-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-009-9054-9