Generalized pollination systems and autonomous self fertilization are traits that have been linked with plant invasiveness. However, whether specialized pollination requirements pose a significant barrier to plant invasions is not yet clear. Likewise, the contribution of pollinators to the fecundity of facultatively self pollinating invasive plant species is poorly understood. We addressed thes...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Outcrossing animal-pollinated plants, particularly non-rewarding species, often experience pollinator limitation to reproduction. Pollinator visitation is affected by various factors, and it is hypothesized that reproduction in non-rewarding plants would benefit from low spatial flower abundance and asynchronous flowering. In order to test this hypothesis, the influence of s...

The promotion of cocoa farm productivity has necessitated the intensification input use with ensuing loss natural pollinators. Ghana Cocoa Board’s (COCOBOD) remedy to declining pollinator population is addressed in rolling out hand pollination 2016/17 crop year. Applying contingent valuation on field data covering 608 farmers five growing regions, we estimate value services industry a...

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2017.01.012 The first record of hand pollination was in a relief from an Assyrian dynasty, 800 BC, now preserved in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In the relief, shown in Figure 1A, two winged deities gingerly fertilize a date palm tree by using a male flower. Nearly 3,000 years later, pollination has been automated. In this issue of Chem, Chechetka et al. de...

Patterns in ecology are the products of current factors interacting with history. Nevertheless, few studies have attempted to disentangle contribution historical and factors, such as climate change pollinator identity behavior, on plant reproduction. Here, we separate relative importance processes geographical patterns mating system tree species Curatella americana (Dilleniaceae). Specifically,...

Insect-pollinated crops provide important nutrients for human health. Pollination, water and nutrients available to crops can influence yield, but it is not known if the nutritional value of the crop is also influenced. Almonds are an important source of critical nutrients for human health such as unsaturated fat and vitamin E. We manipulated the pollination of almond trees and the resources av...

• Understanding how pollination affects plant reproductive success and how changes in pollination service affect plant populations, communities and ecosystems is of increasing concern. Yet supplemental hand-pollination traditionally used to assess pollen limitation is prohibitive for large-scale comparative work. Moreover, it does not differentiate between quality and quantity aspects of pollen...

This study compares phenological observations of Corylus (hazel) and Alnus (alder) flowering with airborne pollen counts of these taxa recorded using volumetric spore traps (2009-2011). The work was carried out in the Polish cities of Szczecin and Rzeszów that are located in different climatic regions. Correlations between pollen concentrations and meteorological data were investigated using Sp...

18 yield 19 20 21 22 Citizen science and pollination services 2 Abstract 23 1) Pollination by insects is a vital ecosystem service and the need for its 24 assessment is increasing in recognition and political pressure, but there are 25 currently no large-scale systematic monitoring schemes in place to measure 26 the direct provision of this service. 27 2) This study tested a protocol for using ...

We studied effects of inbreeding on the early fitness measures seed production and germination in Swertia perennis L. (Gentianaceae), a locally abundant specialist of fen grasslands, which have been greatly fragmented in Switzerland. We further tested whether such effects differed between populations of different size and isolation. We studied effects of free pollination, hand-outcrossing and h...