Evidence for behavioral attractiveness of methoxylated aromatics in a dynastid scarab beetle-pollinated araceae.

Many plants attract their pollinators with floral scents, and these olfactory signals are especially important at night, when visual signals become inefficient. Dynastid scarab beetles are a speciose group of night-active pollinators, and several plants pollinated by these insects have methoxylated aromatic compounds in their scents. However, there is a large gap in our knowledge regarding the compounds responsible for beetle attraction.

The key role of 4-methyl-5-vinylthiazole in the attraction of scarab beetle pollinators: a unique olfactory floral signal shared by Annonaceae and Araceae.

Cyclocephaline scarabs are specialised scent-driven pollinators, implicated with the reproductive success of several Neotropical plant taxa. Night-blooming flowers pollinated by these beetles are thermogenic and release intense fragrances synchronized to pollinator activity. However, data on floral scent composition within such mutualistic interactions are scarce, and the identity of behaviorally active compounds involved is largely unknown.

Pollination biology of Eulophia alta (Orchidaceae) in Amazonia: effects of pollinator composition on reproductive success in different populations.

Background And Aims: Spatial variation in pollinator composition and abundance is a well-recognized phenomenon. However, a weakness of many studies claiming specificity of plant-pollinator interactions is that they are often restricted to a single locality. The aim of the present study was to investigate pollinator effectiveness of the different flower visitors to the terrestrial orchid Eulophia alta at three different localities and to analyse whether differences in pollinator abundance and composition effect this plant's reproductive success.

Apparatus for measuring the fall velocity of anemochorous diaspores, with results from two plant communities.

A simple and easy to handle apparatus for measuring the fall velocity of anemochorous diaspores is described. Plumed and winged diaspores from two plant communities of different densities and stabilities were compared. Diaspores of species from an unstable pioneer community had a significantly better flight ability than diaspores from a denser and more stable community.