Flower visitors of

African violets Fruit set Pollination Pollinator networks Saintpaulia Taita hills

Journal

PeerJ
ISSN: 2167-8359
Titre abrégé: PeerJ
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101603425

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
2021
Historique:
received: 03 06 2020
accepted: 11 11 2020
entrez: 11 2 2021
pubmed: 12 2 2021
medline: 12 2 2021
Statut: epublish

Résumé

The African violets are endangered plant species restricted mainly to the Eastern Arc Mountains biodiversity hotspots in Kenya and Tanzania. These plants grow well in shaded environments with high humidity. Given their restricted geographical range and published evidence of dependance on insect vectors to facilitate sexual reproduction, understanding their pollination biology is vital for their survival. We conducted an empirical study using flower visitor observations, pan trapping and bagging experiments to establish the role of flower visitors in the fruit set of a locally endemic and critically endangered species of African violet in Taita Hills, Kenya, The study found that fruit set is increased by 47.8% in Insects appear to be essential flower visitors necessary for increased fruit set in

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
The African violets are endangered plant species restricted mainly to the Eastern Arc Mountains biodiversity hotspots in Kenya and Tanzania. These plants grow well in shaded environments with high humidity. Given their restricted geographical range and published evidence of dependance on insect vectors to facilitate sexual reproduction, understanding their pollination biology is vital for their survival.
METHODS METHODS
We conducted an empirical study using flower visitor observations, pan trapping and bagging experiments to establish the role of flower visitors in the fruit set of a locally endemic and critically endangered species of African violet in Taita Hills, Kenya,
RESULTS RESULTS
The study found that fruit set is increased by 47.8% in
CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS
Insects appear to be essential flower visitors necessary for increased fruit set in

Identifiants

pubmed: 33569245
doi: 10.7717/peerj.10473
pii: 10473
pmc: PMC7845525
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

e10473

Informations de copyright

© 2021 Otieno et al.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Références

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pubmed: 25673686
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pubmed: 23751734

Auteurs

Mark Otieno (M)

Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Department of Agricultural Resource Management, University of Embu, Embu, Kenya.

Neelendra Joshi (N)

Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Fayetteville, AR, USA.

Benjamin Rutschmann (B)

Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.

Classifications MeSH