Publications by authors named "Beverly J Rathcke"
Plant species vary greatly in the degree to which floral morphology restricts access to the flower interior. Restrictiveness of flower corollas may influence heterospecific pollen receipt, but the impact of floral morphology on heterospecific pollen transfer has received little attention. We characterized patterns of pollinator visitation and quantities of conspecific and heterospecific pollen receipt for 29 species with a range of floral morphologies in a prairie community dominated by the introduced plant Euphorbia esula (leafy spurge) which has an unrestrictive morphology.
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- Mathematical models suggest that for androdioecious populations to thrive, male fitness needs to be at least double that of hermaphrodites.
- To study this in white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), researchers measured outcrossing rates, inbreeding depression, and male fitness in two androdioecious and one hermaphroditic population.
- Findings showed moderate outcrossing rates, varied inbreeding depression across populations, and notable differences in flower production, suggesting that male plants and hermaphrodites contribute similarly to the population's overall fitness.
Floral longevity is assumed to reflect a balance between the benefit of increased pollination success and the cost of flower maintenance. Flowers of Kalmia latifolia (Ericaceae), mountain laurel, have a long duration and can remain viable up to 21 d if unpollinated. I experimentally tested whether this long duration increases pollination success by clipping stigmas to reduce functional floral longevity to 3-4 d.
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