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(American Journal of Botany. 2008;95:925-930.) doi: 10.3732/ajb.0800036 © 2008 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

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Pollination efficiencies of flower-visiting insects as determined by direct genetic analysis of pollen origin¹

² Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan ³ Graduate School of Agriculture, Kagoshima University, Korimoto 1-21-24, Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan ⁴ Tohoku Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Morioka, Iwate 020-0123, Japan

ABSTRACT

The amount and genetic composition of pollen grains that are transported to flowers influence the reproduction and fitness of plants. Despite the importance of insect-pollination systems, an understanding of those systems is still lacking due to the absence of a genetic analysis of pollen grains that are transported to flowers. We evaluated the pollination efficiencies of bumblebees (Apidae, Bombus spp.), flower beetles (Scarabaeidae, subfamily Cetoniinae, Protaetia and Eucetonia sp.), and small beetles (Lagriidae, Arthromacra sp.) that visited the flowers of Magnolia obovata (Magnoliaceae) using quantitative (flower visitation frequency, amount of adherent pollen per insect) and qualitative (origin and genetic diversity of adherent pollen per insect) criteria. Most of the pollen adhering to bumblebees and small beetles was self-pollen. This result suggests that visitation by these insects may cause geitonogamous pollen flow and negatively affect the reproduction of M. obovata, causing inbreeding depression. In contrast, flower beetles transported large amounts of genetically diverse outcross pollen. Our results suggest that certain beetle species contribute quantitatively and qualitatively to the pollination of M. obovata. Direct genetic analysis of pollen grains will advance our understanding of plant mating systems and may shed light on the mutualism and coevolution of plants and flower visitors.

Key Words: beetle • bumblebee • insect pollination • Japan • Magnoliaceae • microsatellite • pollen genotyping • pollination efficiency

Received for publication 28 January 2008. Accepted for publication 23 May 2008.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The authors thank the Forestry and Forest Product Research Institute for permission to work in the Ogawa Forest Reserve. This research was partly supported by grants from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, and the 21^st Century Center of Excellence Program at Kyoto University.

⁵ Author for correspondence (e-mail: matkyu{at}kais.kyoto-u.ac.jp)

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