Pollen tube growth from multiple pollinator visits more accurately quantifies pollinator performance and plant reproduction.

ABSTRACT: Pollination services from animals are critical for both crop production and reproduction in wild plant species. Accurately measuring the relative contributions of different animal taxa to pollination service delivery is essential for identifying key pollinators. However, widely used measures of pollinator effectiveness (e.g., single visit pollen deposition) may be inaccurate where plant reproduction is strongly constrained by pollen quality. Here, we test the efficacy of single and multiple pollinator visits for measuring pollinator performance in a model plant species (apple, Malus domestica Borkh) that is strongly limited by pollen quality. We determined pollination success using a suite of measures (pollen deposition, pollen tube growth, fruit and seed set) from single and multiple poll

SUBMITTER: Stavert JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7552416 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature