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(American Journal of Botany. 2009;96:1703-1711.)
doi: 10.3732/ajb.0800407
© 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.
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Reproductive Biology

Pollen clumping and wind dispersal in an invasive angiosperm1

Michael D. Martin2, Marcelo Chamecki3, Grace S. Brush2,6, Charles Meneveau4 and Marc B. Parlange5

2 Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Ames Hall, 3400 N. Charles Street, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 USA 3 Department of Meteorology, 503 Walker Building, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 USA 4 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Latrobe Hall, 3400 N. Charles Street, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 USA 5 School of Architecture, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

ABSTRACT

Pollen dispersal is a fundamental aspect of plant reproductive biology that maintains connectivity between spatially separated populations. Pollen clumping, a characteristic feature of insect-pollinated plants, is generally assumed to be a detriment to wind pollination because clumps disperse shorter distances than do solitary pollen grains. Yet pollen clumps have been observed in dispersion studies of some widely distributed wind-pollinated species. We used Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed; Asteraceae), a successful invasive angiosperm, to investigate the effect of clumping on wind dispersal of pollen under natural conditions in a large field. Results of simultaneous measurements of clump size both in pollen shedding from male flowers and airborne pollen being dispersed in the atmosphere are combined with a transport model to show that rather than being detrimental, clumps may actually be advantageous for wind pollination. Initial clumps can pollinate the parent population, while smaller clumps that arise from breakup of larger clumps can cross-pollinate distant populations.

Key Words: Ambrosia artemisiifolia • anemophily • Asteraceae • cross-pollination • genetic diversity • pollen clumps • pollen dispersal • wind pollination

Received for publication 5 December 2008. Accepted for publication 13 April 2009.

FOOTNOTES

1 The authors thank A. Rinaldo, R. Schlaepfer, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript and B. DeTemple, C. Higgins, M. Spicknall, M. Embry, L. Ziska, and S. Featherstone for assistance in experimental design and setup. This research was supported by National Science Foundation awards BES-0119903 and EAR-0609690.

6 Author for correspondence (e-mail: gbrush{at}jhu.edu)


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