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(American Journal of Botany. 2007;94:683-689.)
© 2007 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

Reproductive Biology

Fertility of Vriesea gigantea Gaud. (Bromeliaceae) in southern Brazil1

Gecele M. Paggi, Clarisse Palma-Silva, Lucas C. T. Silveira, Eliane Kaltchuk-Santos, Maria H. Bodanese-Zanettini and Fernanda Bered2

Laboratório de Genética Molecular Vegetal and Laboratório de Cultura de Tecidos e Transformação Genética de Plantas, Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, CP15053, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

ABSTRACT

Plant fertility is a central subject of many questions in plant evolutionary and conservation biology. Pollen availability, abiotic resources, and flowering pattern can limit fruit and seed production. Open pollination and pollen supplementation studies are used to estimate any pollen limitation in natural populations. To study the impact of these factors on the reproductive success of Vriesea gigantea, an epiphytic bromeliad in the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil, its fertility in four natural populations in Itapuã State Park was assessed by considering plant and inflorescence size, flower production, fruit and seed set, flower and fruit set pattern, and seed viability and germination rate. Supplemental pollination in adult plants was used to determine whether fruit production in V. gigantea is limited by reception of pollen. The results showed that V. gigantea has a high production of flowers, fruits, and seeds. Seeds are highly viable in all populations, presenting an average germination rate of 94% (SE ± 3.5). Plants of V. gigantea from Itapuã State Park are highly fertile. The high proportion of fruit and seed set after manual hand pollination indicates that the species is self-compatible. Pollination treatments showed evidence of pollinator limitation in the Itapuã State Park population.

Key Words: Bromeliaceae • flower production • fruit set • Itapuã • State Park • pollen limitation • seed viability • self-compatibility




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T. Barbara, G. Martinelli, C. Palma-Silva, M. F. Fay, S. Mayo, and C. Lexer
Genetic relationships and variation in reproductive strategies in four closely related bromeliads adapted to neotropical 'inselbergs': Alcantarea glaziouana, A. regina, A. geniculata and A. imperialis (Bromeliaceae)
Ann. Bot., January 1, 2009; 103(1): 65 - 77.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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