Is there 'anther-anther interference' within a flower? Evidences from one-by-one stamen movement in an insect-pollinated plant.

ABSTRACT: The selective pressure imposed by maximizing male fitness (pollen dispersal) in shaping floral structures is increasingly recognized and emphasized in current plant sciences. To maximize male fitness, many flowers bear a group of stamens with temporally separated anther dehiscence that prolongs presentation of pollen grains. Such an advantage, however, may come with a cost resulting from interference of pollen removal by the dehisced anthers. This interference between dehisced and dehiscing anthers has received little attention and few experimental tests to date. Here, using one-by-one stamen movement in the generalist-pollinated Parnassia palustris, we test this hypothesis by manipulation experiments in two years. Under natural conditions, the five fertile stamens in P. palustris flowers

SUBMITTER: Ren MX 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3903572 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature