Abstract
Abstract The pollination syndrome hypothesis usually does not successfully apply to the diversity of floral phenotypes or help predict the pollinators of most plant species. In Bromeliaceae, there is a wide range of floral visitors, making its species ideal to test for a correlation between nectar and floral traits with pollination syndrome. In this study, we analyzed the floral features, nectar production patterns, pollinators and floral visitors of Vriesea gigantea, and discussed its potential adaptive and ecological significance. We study three natural populations from the Atlantic Forest, Southern Brazil. The species presented protogyny and herkogamy, and its anthesis occurred at different periods among different populations. Vriesea gigantea has a relatively constant rate of nectar production during the day that continues overnight but at a reduced rate. Newly opened flowers already have around 80.0 μl of nectar. Although classified as chiropterophilous, based on flower morphology and pollinator observations, our results show that hummingbirds are effective pollinators in the studied populations of V. gigantea.
Highlights
With approximately 3,140 described species (Butcher & Gouda 2017), Bromeliaceae is among the most species-rich non-woody plant families in the neotropics and has undergone one of the most remarkable adaptive radiations in the plant world (Givnish et al 2011, 2014)
It is evident that corolla size, time of anthesis and presence of odor, and presence and amount of nectar, are related to an animal group that acts as a pollinator, determining distinct guilds among bromeliad species (Kaehler et al 2005; Tavares et al 2016); a given species may have the features of different pollination syndromes
Nectar production increased until it reached a peak at approximately six to eight hours after the beginning of anthesis, with no difference
Summary
With approximately 3,140 described species (Butcher & Gouda 2017), Bromeliaceae is among the most species-rich non-woody plant families in the neotropics and has undergone one of the most remarkable adaptive radiations in the plant world (Givnish et al 2011, 2014). 50 percent of bromeliad species are epiphytic; they have leaf trichomes of varied forms that function as moistureand nutrient absorptive appendages (Benzing 2000). Regarding their reproductive ecology, bromeliads have a wide range of pollinators, including bats,. Caution is suggested when using pollination syndromes for organizing floral diversity, or for inferring the agents of floral adaptation (Ollerton et al 2009; Maruyama et al 2013; Rech et al 2014); even though it has been observed that the functional groups of pollinators might exert different selection pressures on floral traits (Fenster et al 2004; Ollerton et al 2015)
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