Pollen Wars: Explosive Pollination Removes Pollen Deposited from Previously Visited Flowers
AbstractPollen grains from different plants potentially compete for ovule access because flowers produce many more pollen grains than ovules. Pollen competition could occur on pollinators, where there is finite space for pollen placement. Here, we explore the explosive pollen deposition in <i>Hypenia macrantha</i> (Lamiaceae, a perennial flowering plant native to South America that is frequently visited by hummingbirds) and determine whether it can improve male performance by reducing pollen loads deposited by previously visited flowers. Through the simulation of floral visits utilizing a hummingbird skull, we showed that explosive pollen deposition by untriggered flowers dislodges almost twice as many pollen grains as already-triggered flowers. In addition, pollen removal increases with the amount of deposited pollen by the floral explosion, suggesting that the precision or the explosive force of pollen deposition plays a pivotal role in this pollen removal process. These results suggest that explosive pollen placement, a mechanism that has evolved in many unrelated angiosperm clades, may confer a prepollination male competition advantage to plants.
Authors
- Jonny Everson Scherwinski-Pereira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6271-332X)
- Lílian Rodrigues Ferreira de Melo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0472-9101)
- Carlos A. Matallana‐Puerto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8910-2684)
- Tamires de Oliveira Andrade (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9492-1967)
- Thainã Resende Monteiro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2162-2420)
- Ana Carolina Sabino de Oliveira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4601-055X)
- Vanessa Gonzaga Marcelo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7870-1072)
- Vinícius Lourenço Garcia de Brito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2727-3063)
- Isadora Schulze‐Albuquerque (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4678-8924)
- Cinthia Soares Novaes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3284-5298)
- Bruce Anderson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7264-4505)
- Paulo Eugênio Oliveira
- Patrick Menezes Consorte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7397-3574)
- Sara Medina-Benavides
- César Augusto Arvelos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0107-9876)
- Daniela Cristina de Cario Calaça
- Victor H. D. Silva
- Jordana Oliveira Borges
Institutions
- Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
- Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (BR)
- Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (BR)
- Stellenbosch University (ZA)
- Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (BR)
- Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros (BR)
- Universidade Federal do Pará (BR)
- Universidade Federal de Goiás (BR)
- Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (BR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The American Naturalist
- Published
- 2024-08-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1086/732797
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Plant and animal studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.15