Abstract

DE AVILA JR, Rubém Samuel. Besleria longimucronata (Gesneriaceae) and its nectar robbers: what are the effects of this supposed negative interaction on reproductive success?. Ecol. austral [online]. 2010, vol.20, n.2, pp.209-213. ISSN 1667-782X.

Antagonistic interactions are intuitively classified as negative for the reproductive success of individuals. Among these, the behavior of robbed floral nectar by different groups of animals is one of the most frequent and common in angiosperms. This kind of interaction could be an important selective force in the evolution of floral traits, type and amount of resources available and flowering period. So, there is a need to analyze in detail the various stages of reproductive plants considering the possible negative impact of nectar robbers and better understand and quantify their impact on fitness. The flowers of Besleria longimucronata showed a great rate of robbed flowers in preliminary observations made in 2005. The potential effects on the reproductive success of the nectar robbery were evaluated by fruit set in both treatments (robbed flowers and no robbed flowers) for each 31 individuals (blocks with 5 flowers for each treatment). Each flower produces a large amount of nectar and the robbers not seem to decrease the amount of resource available to effective pollinators. Fruit production did not change significantly between robbed-flowers and not robbed-flowers, which can be interpreted as a neutral effect of this antagonist interaction.

Keywords : Fitness; Polinization; Fructification; Antagonism; Robbery of floral nectar.

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