Abstract

CUEVAS-GARCIA, Eduardo; ALCALA-GUERRA, Aaron; BANOS-BRAVO, Yunuhen E.  and  FLORES-PALACIOS, Alejandro. Reproductive biology and nectar robbing in Salvia gesneriflora (Lamiaceae) and their consequences on plant reproductive success. Bot. sci [online]. 2013, vol.91, n.3, pp.357-362. ISSN 2007-4476.

Nectar robbers perforate generally tubular flowers to access nectar. The flowers of Salvia gesneriflora are robbed by birds and insects that might decrease the reproductive success of this plant. In this study we evaluated several aspects of the reproductive biology of S. gesneriflora and the effect of nectar robbing on different components of female reproductive success. In three populations, flowers were protected from nectar robbers. We found that S. gesneriflora is a self-compatible species, although autonomous selfing did not occur, probably because their flowers showed herkogamy and dichogamy. Manual self-pollinated flowers produced 75% fewer seeds than cross-pollinated flowers. Nectar robbing mainly affected seed mass (29%) and germination rate (31%), while fruit set and seed number were not significantly different between robbed and unrobbed flowers.

Keywords : floral damage; nectar robbers; pollination; reproductive success; reproductive system.

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