Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics最新文献

{"title":"Detrimental effects of anthropogenic disturbances on ant-mediated seed dispersal services: A global meta-analysis","authors":"Byanca N.T. Cavalcante ,&nbsp;Diego Centeno-Alvarado ,&nbsp;Fernanda M.P. Oliveira ,&nbsp;José D. Ribeiro-Neto ,&nbsp;Alexander V. Christianini ,&nbsp;Xavier Arnan ,&nbsp;Inara R. Leal","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125876","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125876","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Anthropogenic disturbances, particularly the loss of natural and semi-natural habitats, have global impacts on ecosystems, notably affecting vital ecological services like seed dispersal by ants, which are crucial for about 4.5 % of plant species. These effects depend on factors such as biogeographical origins of the biota, plant growth form, plant and seed traits, interacting ant species, and local site characteristics. In this meta-analysis, we investigated the overall trends in the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on ant-mediated seed removal rates and dispersal distances. We also explored how these services are influenced by disturbance type, environmental factors (e.g., temperature, precipitation, and biome), plant and seed traits (e.g., dispersal syndrome, its interaction with plant growth form, and seed size), and disperser species characteristics (e.g., keystone species). We analyzed 76 independent studies, comprising 430 experiments related to seed dispersal services (353 focused on seed removal rates and 77 on seed dispersal distances). Our findings revealed that anthropogenic disturbances negatively impact seed removal rates, although not consistently across all abiotic and biotic contexts, while having no significant effects on seed dispersal distances. The relationship between disturbances and seed removal was influenced by disturbance type, biome, plant and seed traits. Specifically, mining activities decreased seed removal rates, and disturbances in general reduced seed removal by ants in Mediterranean forests, woodlands, deserts and xeric shrublands. Interestingly, myrmecochorous trees were especially vulnerable in seed removal compared to other plant growth forms or dispersal syndromes, suggesting that the impacts of disturbance on ant-mediated seed dispersal could lead to major modifications in the structure of forest ecosystems. Our study highlights the importance of conserving ant-mediated seed dispersal, particularly in myrmecochory hotspots, to protect this critical ecological service.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"68 ","pages":"Article 125876"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-term effects of free-ranging cattle and ponies on the soil and vegetation of reseeded grasslands in the New Forest, England","authors":"Peter J. Edwards ,&nbsp;J. Rue Ekins ,&nbsp;Susan Hollis","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125875","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125875","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The New Forest, England, includes an extensive area of semi-natural vegetation that is grazed by free-ranging cattle and ponies. Between 1947 and 1958, several areas of nutrient-poor acid grassland were fenced and sown with pasture seed mixtures with the aim of improving the animals’ food resources. After the swards had established, the fences were removed and the leys, known locally as reseeded lawns, have since been grazed continuously. Drawing upon data from previous studies and reports, we investigated changes in the vegetation and soils of these lawns, and in their use by grazing animals, over a period of &lt; 75 years. The sown species, among them <em>Lolium perenne</em> and <em>Trifolium repens</em>, were soon replaced by <em>Agrostis capillaris</em> and rosette-forming forbs such as <em>Hypochoeris radicata</em> and <em>Leontodon autumnalis</em>. After about 1996, the cover of <em>Danthonia decumbens</em> and various <em>Carex</em> spp. increased, and heathland species, especially <em>Calluna vulgaris</em>, began to encroach onto the lawns. This floristic succession was associated with declining productivity and lower nutritional quality of herbage, and reduced use of lawns by livestock. We present various lines of evidence indicating that the main driver of these changes was declining soil phosphorus (P), caused in large part by its export from lawns in excreta and in the bodies of animals leaving the New Forest. We conclude that, through their selective use of habitat, free-ranging livestock can strongly influence vegetation processes at larger spatial scales and may contribute positively to the conservation value of pastoral landscapes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Article 125875"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144116441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Taxonomic and genetic assessment of disjunct populations of the threatened plant Arnica montana (Asteraceae) from central France","authors":"Fabienne Van Rossum ,&nbsp;Didier Buisson ,&nbsp;Timothée Le Péchon ,&nbsp;Laura Daco ,&nbsp;Sylvie Hermant ,&nbsp;Richard Dahlem ,&nbsp;Guy Colling ,&nbsp;Philippe Bardin","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125873","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125873","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To optimize genetic restoration, not only the amount of genetic diversity is important, but also genetic differentiation among populations. When genetic divergence is too high, maladaptation and outbreeding depression may compromise long-term population evolutionary potential. The declining, self-incompatible, clonally-propagating mountainous herb <em>Arnica montana</em> (Asteraceae) shows wide phenotypic variation through its range. Two subspecies (<em>atlantica</em> and <em>montana</em>) were described based on nuclear and plastid markers and on sesquiterpene lactone composition. Taxonomic uncertainties remain about disjunct, low elevational, and ecologically marginal populations in central France (Val-de-Loire region). We investigated genetic diversity and structure using four plastid markers and nine polymorphic microsatellite markers and quantified helenalin and dihydrohelenalin compounds in flowers, to compare Val-de-Loire populations with low-elevation populations from Ardennes (northern France, Belgium and Luxembourg) ascribed to <em>A. m.</em> subsp. <em>montana</em>. Small Val-de-Loire populations retained genetic diversity similar to the larger restored Ardennes populations, so that they may be used as seed sources for local translocations, with source mixing to take the small number of compatible mates due to high clonality into account. Genetic differentiation between Val-de-Loire and Ardennes populations suggests isolation-by-distance, and founding and genetic drift effects. Val-de-Loire populations share the same phylogeographic history and chemotype as Ardennes populations, and can thus be ascribed to <em>A. m.</em> subsp. <em>montana.</em> The wide chemotypic variation among and within populations suggests phenotypic plasticity related to site environment and climatic conditions, but also genetically-based local adaptation. The preservation of such ecologically marginal populations appear important in a context of climate change and increased eutrophication.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Article 125873"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143898482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Untangling the relationship between pollination efficiency and pollen-ovule ratios","authors":"Martin Burd","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125872","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125872","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intuition suggests that loss of pollen during dispersal will favour increased pollen production to counteract the loss. From the perspective of sex allocation theory, however, such loss constitutes mortality following parental investment, and theoretical models have consistently shown that sex differences in post-investment mortality have no selective effect on parental sex allocation, of which pollen and ovule investment is a conspicuous part. This conflict between intuition and theory can be ameliorated by comparison to animal reproductive ecology. Mating systems such as polygyny that leave many seemingly superfluous males do not favour compensatory adjustments in the sex ratio. Rampant egg mortality among broadcast-spawners does not create selection for greater egg production. These inefficient reproductive investments evolve because efficiency is not the basis of the rare-sex advantage governing sex allocation. Nonetheless, empirical associations of pollination efficiency with pollen-ovule ratios need explanation. A simple but unexplored possibility is that high pollination efficiency tends also to involve stigmatic deposition of related cohorts of pollen or repeated pollination of nearby recipient plants by a focal donor, thus creating local mating competition, a factor long known to affect sex allocation. This hypothesis predicts that low pollen-ovule ratios will be accompanied by high levels of correlated paternity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Article 125872"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143904512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Aquatic carnivorous plants fill gaps in the functional niches of macrophytes: Intra-species variability and group strategies","authors":"Alice Dalla Vecchia ,&nbsp;Lubomír Adamec ,&nbsp;Rossano Bolpagni","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125871","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125871","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The inclusion of aquatic carnivorous plants (ACP) in global plant functional assessment is a key step to fully understand the functional space of macrophytes. For this purpose, we measured functional traits of ACP, focusing on the leaf economics spectrum, describing the functional space of ACP and comparing it with that of four widespread macrophyte growth forms (ceratophyllids, rooted submerged hydrophytes, nymphaeids and lemnids). Eight ACP species (<em>Aldrovanda vesiculosa</em>, and seven <em>Utricularia</em> spp.) were sampled in the Třeboňsko Biosphere Reserve and Protected Landscape Area (Czech Republic). Given the peculiar morphology of the target species, this required standardizing the selection of shoot portions for functional analysis by identifying \"functional units\" (<em>fu</em>) to be considered homologous to leaves. The analyzed ACP show wide functional variation, reflected in four different functional clusters. <em>Aldrovanda vesiculosa</em> differs markedly – in investment in carnivory and carbon content – from the <em>Utricularia</em> species, which in turn are characterized by significant differences, especially in <em>fu</em> size, number of traps, dry matter content, and chlorophyll-a content. Moreover, the functional space of ACP diverges significantly, with minimal overlap (∼10 %), with submerged species. All investigated ACP show traits related to rapid turnover of <em>fu</em>, confirming the tendency to adopt an acquisitive strategy. This, however, seems to be efficient only under conditions typical of these species (i.e. in nutrient-poor aquatic ecosystems). Our results considerably expand the available information on the functional space of aquatic macrophytes including ACP, clearly indicating the next steps for a full functional understanding of these species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Article 125871"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143882060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Drivers of plant and lichen diversity in grasslands on mineral islands surrounded by peatlands (Biebrza Valley, NE Poland)","authors":"Iwona Dembicz ,&nbsp;Jürgen Dengler ,&nbsp;Marta Czarnocka-Cieciura ,&nbsp;Piotr T. Zaniewski ,&nbsp;Katarzyna Skłodowska ,&nbsp;Łukasz Kozub","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125870","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125870","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We studied fine-scale patterns of plant and lichen species richness in the grasslands of small mineral 'islands' in the extensive Biebrza River peatlands (NE Poland). Despite their relatively small size (up to several tens of hectares), the islands with their mesic to dry grasslands are regional biodiversity hotspots. We asked: (i) What is the species richness of vascular plants, non-vascular taxa (bryophytes and lichens), and threatened vascular plant species in such grasslands and how does it vary at different spatial scales? (ii) To what extent are the observed biodiversity patterns of different groups determined by geographic, topographic, soil, productivity and anthropogenic factors? We sampled environmental data and all vascular plant, bryophyte and lichen species in 38 nested plot series of seven grain sizes (0.0001–100 m²) located within grasslands on these habitat islands. We used GLMMs, GLMs and multi-model inference to assess the importance of 16 variables related with geographical location and landscape, topography, soil, productivity, and human impact as predictors of species richness. For seven predictors, we confirmed the scale dependence of their importance. For most variables and grain sizes, richness of non-vascular taxa showed the inverse pattern to vascular plants both in case of scale-dependency of variable importance as well in the case of the direction of the relationship. For vascular plant richness mostly local factors were important predictors (e.g. unimodal relationship with soil moisture and organic matter), but surprisingly not soil pH, in contrast to many other studies. The amount of surrounding grassland was an important positive predictor only for the richness of threatened species. Conversely, richness of threatened species was negatively related to the size of the island. This result suggests that small habitat islands should receive special attention in conservation planning and management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Article 125870"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143887805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The establishment growth and clonal growth organs","authors":"J. Martínková ,&nbsp;A. Klimeš ,&nbsp;J. Klimešová","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125869","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125869","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><ul><li><span>•</span><span><div>Establishment growth is a critical period in a plant’s life with the highest mortality rate. While germination is the beginning of establishment growth, flowering is considered its end. However, sexual reproduction is often accompanied by vegetative reproduction employing clonal growth organs such as rhizomes. Yet, we know very little about the establishment growth of clonal species and their clonal organs.</div></span></li></ul><ul><li><span>•</span><span><div>In this opinion, using our long-term experimental data, we show that rhizomatous herbs need at least two years to establish and that the common definition of establishment growth as the time between germination and first flowering is not accurate. We suggest that clonal herbs compared to non-clonal ones may be handicapped by a longer establishment growth.</div></span></li></ul></div><div><ul><li><span>•</span><span><div>The length of establishment growth may have large implications for studying plant regeneration, ecosystem restoration, species vulnerability levels, demographical bottlenecks, and also for experimental ecology. Conclusions drawn from primarily short-term studies may be influenced by the incomplete establishment of experimental plants and the ongoing development of their clonal growth organs.</div></span></li></ul></div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Article 125869"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143820839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pollen presentation mitigates competition for pollinators due to diurnal stratification of pollen transfer","authors":"Jakub Štenc ,&nbsp;Lukáš Janošík ,&nbsp;Martin Freudenfeld ,&nbsp;Eva Matoušková ,&nbsp;Jiří Hadrava ,&nbsp;Michael Mikát ,&nbsp;Klára Daňková ,&nbsp;Tereza Hadravová ,&nbsp;Tadeáš Ryšan ,&nbsp;Jasna Simonová ,&nbsp;Klára Koupilová ,&nbsp;Alice Haveldová ,&nbsp;Eliška Konečná ,&nbsp;Jan Martinek ,&nbsp;Barbora Jelínková ,&nbsp;Stanislav Vosolsobě ,&nbsp;Karolína Dobešová ,&nbsp;Marie Smyčková ,&nbsp;Jan Smyčka ,&nbsp;Jitka Smyčková ,&nbsp;Zdeněk Janovský","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125868","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125868","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pollen presentation and release strategies are believed to affect the timing of plant-pollinator interactions and therefore play a crucial role in pollen transfer. However, only limited evidence links pollen release and temporal changes in the pollen load carried by pollinators. In the present study, we aim to investigate how different pollen presentation strategies affect both the quantity and quality of pollen transferred by plant pollinators and discuss the potential for structuring plant-pollinator networks. We investigated pollen load on pollinators collected from three co-flowering species during the daytime with a known pollen presentation strategy: <em>Succisa pratensis</em> releasing pollen early in the morning, <em>Centaurea jacea</em> employs a gradual pollen presentation and <em>Trifolium hybridum</em> with explosive pollen release during pollinator visits. We compared the temporal patterns in the number of conspecific pollen grains (pollen of visited plant species) on the bodies of pollinators(pollen quantity) and in the proportions of the total pollen load (pollen quality) for different pollinators of the studied plant species. Then we linked pollen transfer to the pollinator visitation pattern during the day.The three plant species differed in the pattern of pollen transfer by their pollinators. Pollinators of <em>Succisa pratensis</em> carried the majority of the pollen in the morning after the pollen was released followed by a drop in both pollen quantity and quality. Pollinators of <em>C. jacea</em> and <em>T. hybridum</em> carried less variable pollen loads over time, which we explain by plant spatial density (<em>C. jacea</em>) and flower morphology combined with a pollen release strategy (<em>T. hybridum</em>). By linking the diurnal pattern of pollen transfer with the pollinator visitation pattern, our results demonstrate the diurnal structuring of pollen transfer and the plant’s ability to mitigate the negative effect of pollinator sharing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Article 125868"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143815125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Are trait responses of tree species across pyroregions indicative of fire-modulated plant functional strategies?","authors":"José Maria Costa-Saura ,&nbsp;Gabriele Midolo ,&nbsp;Carlo Ricotta ,&nbsp;Mara Baudena ,&nbsp;Carlo Calfapietra ,&nbsp;Mario Elia ,&nbsp;Paolo Fiorucci ,&nbsp;Simone Mereu ,&nbsp;Costantino Sirca ,&nbsp;Donatella Spano ,&nbsp;Gianna Vivaldo ,&nbsp;Gianluigi Ottaviani","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125867","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125867","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fire disturbance is a global eco-evolutionary force affecting plant species persistence and distribution. Pyrogeographic studies so far have identified pyroregions based on their similarity in climate and fire regime parameters. However, which fire-related traits tend to promote or hinder plant species persistence and distribution in different pyroregions remains underexplored. We implement a trait-based approach focusing on 38 tree species in the Mediterranean Basin (Italy), testing whether 1) species distribution across different pyroregions is associated with fire regime, 2) species in different pyroregions exhibit distinct fire-related trait values and, if so, 3) trait differences suggest better abilities to cope with fire and aridity in species distributed in more fire-prone and arid regions (e.g. thicker bark). We ran multivariate analyses (Correspondence Analysis) and linear models (Standardized Major Axis, Ordinary Least Squares) to address our goals. Findings tend to positively answer our questions, emphasizing the importance of including fire-related traits in pyroregionalization studies. Noticeably, the most fire-prone pyroregions collapse into one region from a functional perspective, with species characterized by trait values indicative of adaptations to fire and aridity. A trait-based approach may contribute to refine pyroregionalization exercises while proving useful for management purposes, such as identifying species or life histories whose traits may facilitate their persistence in the face of future, likely exacerbating, fire regimes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Article 125867"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143738963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reproductive biology and pollinators of Musschia wollastonii Lowe (Campanulaceae)","authors":"Catarina Gomes ,&nbsp;Sílvia Castro ,&nbsp;Tiago Andrade ,&nbsp;Manuela Gouveia ,&nbsp;Elisa Teixeira ,&nbsp;Célia Bairos ,&nbsp;Miguel Menezes de Sequeira","doi":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125866","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ppees.2025.125866","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the reproductive biology of plants is particularly relevant for the conservation of rare, threatened or endemic plants. <em>Musschia wollastonii</em> Lowe is a rare, monocarpic, neoendemic species of the island of Madeira with a complex reproductive biology including outcrossing and selfing. However, nothing is known about the extent of the dependence of the species on pollinators for its reproduction, a possible incompatibility system, or the extent of selfing. We found that <em>M. wollastonii</em> is self-compatible and shows spontaneous but delayed selfing. Outcrossing is promoted by protandry, weak dichogamy, and a mechanism of secondary pollen presentation on the abaxial surface of the stigmatic lobes. The four-month flowering period and large inflorescence, traits that promote cross-pollination, suggest a mixed mating system. Observed flower visitors were insects from the Syrphidae and Drosophilae (both Diptera), Nymphalidae (Lepidoptera) and Vespidae (Hymenoptera) families. All insect flower visitors observed were pollen thieves and had thus potentially a negative impact on reproductive success, but a positive role as pollinators is suggested for syrphids and the butterfly <em>Pararge xiphia</em> (Nymphalidae). Although reported by other authors, no bird visitations were recorded in the studied habitat.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56093,"journal":{"name":"Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics","volume":"67 ","pages":"Article 125866"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143641955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}