Bees may drive the reproduction of four sympatric cacti in a vanishing coastal mediterranean-type ecosystem.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sympatric congeneric plants might share pollinators, or each species might avoid competition by evolving specialized traits that generate partitions in pollinator assemblages. In both cases, pollen limitation (a decrease in the quality and quantity of compatible reproductive pollen) can occur, driving the plant mating system to autogamy as a mechanism of reproductive assurance. We assessed the relationships between pollinator assemblages and mating systems in a group of sympatric congeneric plants. We attempted to answer the following questions: (i) How similar are pollinator assemblages among sympatric cactus species? (ii) Which mating systems do sympatric cactus species use?

Methods

We studied sympatric Eriosyce taxa that inhabit a threatened coastal stri

SUBMITTER: Guerrero PC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6786246 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature