Vertebrate pollination of the endemic Trochetia granulata (Malvaceae) on Réunion - Université de La Réunion Access content directly
Journal Articles Journal of Tropical Ecology Year : 2013

Vertebrate pollination of the endemic Trochetia granulata (Malvaceae) on Réunion

Abstract

The pollination ecology and breeding system of Trochetia granulata (Malvaceae), an endemic tree species from Réunion were studied. In 2010–2011, compatibility studies were conducted on a total of 154 flowers from 35 different individuals using three different hand pollination treatments: (a) autofertility, (b) self-pollination and (c) cross-pollination. During the period, we also studied the pollination ecology of T. granulata. During 48 h of video recordings, we tracked flower visits to T. granulata in six different sites and studied the behaviour of the visitors. The results from the hand-cross experiments show that T. granulata is self-compatible (60.8% fruit set) but cannot produce fruit (5.4% fruit set) without the visit of a pollen vector. During surveys, four different visitors were reported: the introduced honey bee (Apis mellifera), two endemic species of white-eye (Zosterops borbonicus borbonicus and Z. olivaceus) and the endemic Réunion day gecko (Phelsuma borbonica). This study documented a new case of vertebrate-pollination by lizard and birds in an insular context. These interactions might be linked to several uncommon floral traits of Trochetia species.

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Vegetal Biology
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Dates and versions

hal-01199316 , version 1 (15-09-2015)

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Timothée Le Péchon, Mickaël Sanchez, Laurence Humeau, Luc D.B. Gigord, Li-Bing Zhang. Vertebrate pollination of the endemic Trochetia granulata (Malvaceae) on Réunion. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 2013, FirstView (4), pp.353--356. ⟨10.1017/S0266467413000278⟩. ⟨hal-01199316⟩
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