Presence of fruits decreases probability of retaining flowers in a sequentially flowering plant.

ABSTRACT: Both intrinsic and extrinsic plant processes affect the fate of flowers along an inflorescence in sequentially flowering plants. We investigated whether the intrinsic process of competition for limited resource between fruits and flowers owing to resource preemption or sink strength of basal fruits, or architectural effects due to positional differences in the probability of retaining flowers, explains a lower probability of retaining distal flowers in Yucca glauca. Further, we investigated how the extrinsic process of seed herbivory interacts with the plant's intrinsic processes of flower retention. We carried out a field experiment to compare flower retention among nine combinations of three inflorescence treatments (basal flowers only, distal flowers only, distal flowers with pre

SUBMITTER: Jadeja S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6007677 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature