Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9444971 | Acta Oecologica | 2005 | 5 Pages |
Abstract
By applying hand pollination, we studied pollen limitation of seed set of female plants in four dioecious plant species with insect-pollination. The effect of hand pollination increased with distance to the nearest male plant. Distances at which seed set was 50% of its maximal value (after hand pollination) were: 2.3Â m for Valeriana dioica, 5.3Â m for Salix repens, 8.5Â m for Asparagus officinale and 10.6Â m for Bryonia dioica. We discuss to what extent the reduced seed set was caused by either fewer visits or by visits of a lower quality. We argue that quantifying distance-dependent seed set in dioecious plants may be a good way of studying effects of habitat fragmentation on the breakdown of mutualistic pollination systems.
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Authors
Tom J. de Jong, Judith C. Batenburg, Peter G.L. Klinkhamer,