Night and day: Contributions of diurnal and nocturnal visitors to pollen dispersal, paternity diversity, and fruit set in an early-blooming shrub, Daphne jezoensis.

Premise: Under uncertain pollinator visit conditions, plants often exhibit long flowering periods and generalized pollination systems. Flowering of the gynodioecious shrub Daphne jezoensis occurs in early spring in cool temperate forests. Pollination by nocturnal moths is expected, given the species' tubular-shaped flowers with sweet fragrance and nectar.

Is increased male flower production a strategy for avoidance of predispersal seed predation in andromonoecious plants?

Floral gender in angiosperms often varies within and among populations. We conducted a field survey to test how predispersal seed predation affects sex allocation in an andromonoecious alpine herb . We compared plant size, male and perfect flower production, fruit set, and seed predation rate over three years among nine populations inhabiting diverse snowmelt conditions in alpine meadows.

Restricted female function of hermaphrodites in a gynodioecious shrub, Daphne jezoensis (Thymelaeaceae).

Gynodioecy is the coexistence of hermaphrodites and females in a population. It is supposed to be an intermediate stage in the evolutionary pathway from hermaphroditism to dioecy in angiosperm. Hermaphrodites gain fitness through both seed and pollen production whereas females gain fitness only through seed production.

Size-dependent sex allocation and reproductive investment in a gynodioecious shrub.

In sexually dimorphic plants, resource allocation to reproduction often differs between sex morphs. In gynodioecious species, i.e.