Selfing in epiphytic bromeliads compensates for the limited pollination services provided by nectarivorous bats in a neotropical montane forest.

ABSTRACT: Abstract. Plants with specialized pollination systems frequently exhibit adaptations for self-pollination, and this contradictory situation has been explained in terms of the reproductive assurance function of selfing. In the neotropics, several plant lineages rely on specialized vertebrate pollinators for sexual reproduction, including the highly diverse Bromeliaceae family, which also displays a propensity for selfing. Thus far, the scarce evidence on the role of selfing in bromeliads and in other neotropical plant groups is inconclusive. To provide insights into the evolution and persistence of self-fertilization in the breeding systems of Bromeliaceae, we studied four sympatric epiphytic species from the genus Werauhia (Tillandsioideae) in Costa Rica. We documented their

SUBMITTER: Nunez-Hidalgo S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10944016 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature