DNA microsatellites provide plant ecologists with molecular markers precise enough to assign parentage to seeds and seedlings. This allows the exact distance and trajectory of successful pollen to be traced to characterize pollination patterns. Parentage assignment of established seedlings also allows researchers to accurately determine how far new recruits have traveled from their seed parent....

Aims Rhodiola dumulosa is a perennial herb growing in a naturally fragmented habitat of high-mountain rocks. This research aims to (i) investigate the mating system characteristics and pollination biology of R. dumulosa, (ii) study the effects of ecological factors on the mating system and pollination biology of R. dumulosa and (iii) assess the relationship between its pollination and mating sy...

Biodiversity conservation through land-use systems on private land is becoming a pressing environmental policy issue. Agroforestry, such as shade-coffee production, contributes to biodiversity conservation. However, falling coffee prices force many coffee growers to convert their sites into economically more attractive land uses. We performed an economic evaluation of coffee pollination by bees...

Animal-mediated pollination is required for the reproduction of the majority of angiosperms, and pollinators are therefore essential for ecosystem functioning and the economy. Two major threats to insect pollinators are anthropogenic land-use change and the spread of pathogens, whose effects may interact to impact pollination. Here, we investigated the relative effects on the ecosystem service ...

Pollen limitation, resource limitation, fruit abortion, and predation have all been proposed as factors explaining low fruit set in hermaphroditic plants. We conducted a 5-year study combining field observations and pollination experiments to determine the causes of the low fruit set in Aristolochia paucinervis, a Mediterranean species with a specialized pollination system in two populations in...

BACKGROUND Some of the most exciting advances in pollination biology have resulted from interdisciplinary research combining ecological and evolutionary perspectives. For example, these two approaches have been essential for understanding the functional ecology of floral traits, the dynamics of pollen transport, competition for pollinator services, and patterns of specialization and generalizat...

Masting, a breeding strategy common in perennial plants, is defined by seed production that is highly variable over years and synchronized at the population level. Resource budget models (RBMs) proposed that masting relies on two processes: (i) the depletion of plant reserves following high fruiting levels, which leads to marked temporal fluctuations in fruiting; and (ii) outcross pollination t...

BACKGROUND Pollination has a great effect on the yield of fruit trees. Blow flies are considered as an effective pollinator compared to hand pollination in fruit orchards. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the effect of different pollination methods in mango orchards. METHODOLOGY The impact of pollination on quantity and quality of mango yield by blow flies was estimated by using...

The CCC-r chart is developed based on cumulative count of a conforming (CCC) control chart that considers the cumulative number of items inspected until observing r nonconforming ones. Typically, the samples obtained from the process are analyzed through 100% inspection to exploit the CCC-r chart. However, considering the inspection cost and time would limit its implementation. In this paper, w...

This study explored the morphological characteristics and effects of pollination methods on fruit set and characteristics in 4 red pitaya (Hylocereus spp.) clones. The distinctive morphological recognition and classification among pitaya clones were confirmed by the stem, flower and fruit features. The fruit production season was indicated from the beginning of May to the end of August – the be...