Floral development and breeding systems of Dryandra sessilis and Grevillea wilsonii (Proteaceae)
Brian G. Collins A B , Michelle Walsh A and James Grey AA Department of Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology, PO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: bcol3735@bigpond.net.au
Australian Journal of Botany 56(2) 119-130 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT07147
Submitted: 2 August 2007 Accepted: 30 October 2007 Published: 19 March 2008
Abstract
Dryandra sessilis (Knight) Domin. and Grevillea wilsonii A.Cunn. co-occur on lateritic soils in the jarrah forest of Western Australia, with their flowering seasons overlapping for several months during winter and spring. Both species are protandrous, with pollen presentation occurring 1–2 days before the stigmas of individual flowers become receptive. Peak receptivity, as indicated by maximum peroxidase secretion, coincides with the maximum opening of stigmatic grooves for D. sessilis or maximum elevation of the stigmatic papillae in G. wilsonii. Pollinators such as western wattlebirds, New Holland honeyeaters and western spinebills almost exclusively visit flowers or inflorescences at times when large amounts of nectar are present, and when self-pollen is available for transfer or stigmas are receptive to the deposition of pollen. By foraging in this manner, yet still moving frequently between plants and inflorescences, honeyeaters that visit D. sessilis should guarantee an effective spread of pollen. The overall level of fruiting success achieved by this species is considerably higher than that for G. wilsonii, a species whose flowers are visited much less often than those of D. sessilis. Allozyme analysis, artificial pollination experiments and the calculation of pollen : ovule ratios indicate that D. sessilis is essentially an obligate outcrosser, at least in locations where plant densities are high, whereas G. wilsonii has a mixed mating system that allows it to set fruits as a consequence of either selfing or outcrossing. Potential fruit-set is low for both species, with post-zygotic incompatibility mechanisms mediated by the availability of nutritional resources thought to be at least partly responsible for the even lower levels of final fruit-set. Total fruit and seed production by individual plants is much greater for D. sessilis than for G. wilsonii, and possibly a reflection of differences in the regeneration requirements of the two species after environmental disturbance such as fire.
Acknowledgements
Work discussed in this paper was supported by funds from the Australian Research Council and the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management (now Environment and Conservation). Technical support provided by Shapelle McNee, Rosemary Rees and staff at the Western Australian Herbarium is gratefully acknowledged, as is the advice given by David Coates regarding the use of gel electrophoresis data. Special thanks are also due to Byron Lamont, Rob Whelan and two anonymous referees who offered constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Ayre DJ, Whelan RJ
(1989) Factors controlling fruit set in hermaphroditic plants: studies with the Australian Proteaceae. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 4, 267–272.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Carthew SM,
Ayre DJ, Whelan RJ
(1988) High levels of outcrossing in populations of Banksia spinulosa R.Br. and Banksia palulosa Smith. Australian Journal of Botany 36, 217–223.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Coates DJ,
Sampson JF, Yates CJ
(2007) Plant mating systems and assessing population persistence in fragmented landscapes. Australian Journal of Botany 55, 239–249.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Collins BG
(1985) Energetics of foraging and resource selection by honeyeaters in forest and woodland habitats of Western Australia. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 12, 577–587.
Collins BG, Grey J
(1989) Preferential foraging by honeyeaters in the Jarrah forest of Western Australia. Ostrich 14(Suppl.), 39–47.
Collins BG, Newland C
(1986) Honeyeater population changes in relation to food availability in the Jarrah forest of Western Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 11, 63–76.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Collins BG, Rebelo T
(1987) Pollination biology of the Proteaceae in Australia and southern Africa. Australian Journal of Ecology 12, 387–421.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Collins BG, Spice J
(1986) Honeyeaters and the pollination biology of Banksia prionotes (Proteaceae). Australian Journal of Botany 34, 175–185.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Collins BG,
Grey J, McNee S
(1990) Foraging and nectar use in nectarivorous bird communities. Studies in Avian Biology 13, 339–373.
Collins BG,
Briffa P, Newland C
(1984a) Temporal changes in abundance and resource utilization by honeyeaters at Wongamine Nature Reserve. Emu 84, 159–166.
Collins BG,
Newland C, Briffa P
(1984b) Nectar utilization and pollination by Australian honeyeaters and insects visiting Calothamnus quadrifidus (Myrtaceae). Australian Journal of Ecology 9, 353–365.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Day DA,
Collins BG, Rees RG
(1997) Reproductive biology of the rare and endangered Banksia brownii ex R.Br. (Proteaceae). Australian Journal of Ecology 22, 285–297.
Goldingay RL, Carthew SM
(1998) Breeding and mating systems in the Australian Proteaceae. Australian Journal of Botany 46, 421–437.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Harriss F, Whelan RJ
(1993) Selective fruit abortion in Grevillea barklayana (Proteaceae). Australian Journal of Botany 41, 499–509.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Hermanutz L,
Innes D,
Denham A, Whelan RJ
(1998) Very low fruit : flower ratios in Grevillea (Proteaceae) are independent of breeding systems. Australian Journal of Botany 46, 465–478.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Heslop-Harrison J, Heslop-Harrison Y
(1970) Evaluation of pollen viability by enzymatically induced fluorescence: intracellular hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate. Stain Technology 45, 115–120.
| PubMed |
Johnson LA, Briggs BG
(1975) On the Proteaceae—the evolution and classification of a southern family. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 70, 83–182.
Kalinganire A,
Harwood CE,
Slee MU, Simons AJ
(2000) Floral structure, stigma receptivity and pollen viability in relation to protandry and self-incompatibility in silky oak (Grevillea robusta A.Cunn.). Annals of Botany 86, 133–148.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lamont BB
(1982) The reproductive biology of Grevillea leucopteris (Proteaceae), including reference to its glandular hairs and colonizing potential. Flora 172, 1–20.
Lamont BB,
Collins BG, Cowling RM
(1985) Reproductive biology of the Proteaceae in Australia and South Africa. Proceedings of the Ecological Society of Australia 14, 213–224.
Lamont BB,
Olesen JJ, Briffa PJ
(1998) Seed production, pollinator attractants and breeding system in relation to fire response – are there reproductive syndromes among co-occurring proteaceous shrubs? Australian Journal of Botany 46, 377–385.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Lee TD
(1984) Patterns of fruit maturation: a gametophytic competition hypothesis. American Naturalist 123, 427–432.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Llorens TM,
Ayre DJ, Whelan RJ
(2004) Evidence for ancient genetic subdivision among recently fragmented populations of the endangered shrub Grevillea caleyi (Proteaceae). Heredity 92, 519–526.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Lloyd DG,
Webb CJ, Primack RB
(1980) Sexual strategies in plants II. Data on temporal regulation of maternal investment. The New Phytologist 86, 81–92.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Matthews ML, Sedgley M
(1998) Breeding system of Dryandra quercifolia and D. formosa (Proteaceae). Australian Journal of Botany 46, 439–452.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Ramsey MW
(1988) Differences in pollinator effectiveness of birds and insects visiting Banksia menziesii (Proteaceae). Oecologia 76, 119–124.
Ramsey M, Vaughton G
(1991) Self-incompatibility, protandry, pollen production and pollen longevity in Banksia menziesii. Australian Journal of Botany 39, 497–504.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Richardson BG,
Ayre DJ, Whelan RJ
(2000) Pollinator behaviour, mate choice and the realized mating systems of Grevillea mucronulata and Grevillea sphacelata. Australian Journal of Botany 48, 357–366.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Ritland K
(2002) Extensions of models for the estimation of mating systems using n independent loci. Heredity 88, 221–228.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Sampson JF,
Collins BG, Coates DJ
(1994) Mixed mating in Banksia brownii Baxter ex R.Br. (Proteaceae). Australian Journal of Botany 42, 103–111.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Sedgley M,
Blessing MA, Vithanage HIMV
(1985) A developmental study of the structure and pollen receptivity of the Macadamia pistil in relation to protandry and self-incompatibility. Botanical Gazette 146, 6–14.
| Crossref |
Smith JA, Gross CL
(2002) The pollination ecology of Grevillea beadleana McGillivray, an endangered shrub from northern New South Wales, Australia. Annals of Botany 89, 97–108.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Stephenson AG
(1981) Flower and fruit abortion: proximate causes and ultimate functions. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 12, 253–279.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Vaughton G
(1990) Seasonal variation in honeyeater foraging behaviour, inflorescence abundance and fruit set in Banksia spinulosa (Proteaceae). Australian Journal of Ecology 15, 109–116.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Vaughton G
(1991) Variation among years in pollen and nutrient limitation of fruit set in Banksia spinulosa (Proteaceae). Journal of Ecology 79, 389–400.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Vaughton G
(1992) Effectiveness of nectivorous birds and honeybees as pollinators of Banksia spinulosa. Australian Journal of Ecology 17, 43–50.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Vaughton G
(1993) Nonrandom patterns of fruit set in Banksia spinulosa (Proteaceae): interovary competition within and among inflorescences. International Journal of Plant Sciences 154, 306–313.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Vaughton G
(1995) No evidence for selective fruit abortion in the Australian shrub Grevillea barklayana (Proteaceae). International Journal of Plant Sciences 156, 417–424.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Weller SG,
Sakal AK, Straub C
(1996) Allozyme diversity and genetic identity in Schieda and Alsinidendron (Caryophyllaceae: Alsinoideae) in the Hawaiian islands. Evolution 50, 23–34.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Whelan RJ, Burbidge AH
(1980) Flowering phenology, seed set and bird pollination of five Western Australian Banksia species. Australian Journal of Ecology 5, 1–7.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Whelan RJ, Goldingay RL
(1986) Do pollinators influence seed-set in Banksia paludosa Sm. and Banksia spinulosa R.Br.? Australian Journal of Ecology 11, 181–186.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
