Phenotypic Selection on Flowering Synchrony in a High Mountain Plant, Hormathophylla Spinosa (Cruciferae)

Abstract

1) In this paper, the effect of flowering synchrony on the reproductive success of Hormathophylla spinosa, a plant living in the Mediterranean high-mountains of the Sierra Nevada (SE Spain), is demonstrated. Eighty plants belonging to three populations were permanently labelled during the period 1988-91, and in each plant the duration and date of flowering as well as the estimated flowering synchrony, were noted. The composition and abundance of the pollinator assemblage, the abundance of the floral herbivores and the effect of the seed and fruit consumers were also recorded. 2) In 1989, 1990 and 1991, the relationship between the flowering synchrony and the three rate-based components of reproductive success (fruit set, brood size and female fertility) were studied