The conservation and sustainable management of Annona coriacea requires knowledge of its floral and reproductive biology, and of its main pollinators and their life cycles. In this work, we analyzed these aspects in detail. Floral biology was assessed by observing flowers from the beginning of anthesis to senescence. The visiting hours and behavior of floral visitors in the floral chamber were recorded, as were the sites of oviposition. Excavations were undertaken around specimens of A. coriacea to determine the location of immature pollinators. Anthesis was nocturnal, starting at sunset, and lasted for 52–56 h. The flowers were bisexual, protogynous and emitted a strong scent similar to the plant´s own ripe fruit. There was pronounced synchrony among all floral events (the period and duration of stigmatic receptivity, release of odor, pollen release and drooping flowers) in different individuals, but no synchrony in the same individuals. All of the flowers monitored were visited by beetle species of the genera Cyclocephala and Arriguttia. Beetles arrived at the flowers with their bodies covered in pollen and these pollen grains were transferred to the stigmata while foraging on nutritious tissues at the base of the petals. With dehiscence of the stamens and retention within the floral chamber, the bodies of the floral visitors were again covered with pollen which they carried to newly opened flowers, thus promoting the cycle of pollination. After leaving the flowers, female beetles often excavated holes in the soil to lay eggs. Larvae were found between the leaf litter and the first layer of soil under specimens of A. coriacea. Cyclocephala beetles were the main pollinators of A. coriacea, but Arriguttia brevissima was also considered a pollinator and is the first species of this genus to be observed in Annonaceae flowers. Annona coriacea was found to be self-compatible with a low reproductive efficiency in the area studied. The results of this investigation provide ecological data that should contribute to the conservation and economic exploitation of A. coriacea.

No abstract

HIPÓLITO FERREIRA PAULINO-NETO 2 RESUMO -Anonáceas, em geral, são espécies cantarófilas e altamente especializadas, apresentando pétalas espessas, carnosas e nutritivas que formam uma câmara floral com ocorrência de termogênege. Este estudo objetivou verificar os efetivos polinizadores e sistema reprodutivo prevalente em A. coriacea. Flores foram marcadas e acompanhadas durante períodos do dia e da noite para verificar os polinizadores legítimos. Tratamentos de polinização manual foram realizados para determinar o sistema reprodutivo. Besouros escarabeídeos Cyclocephala atricapilla e Cyclocephala quatuordecimpunctata (Dynastinae) foram atraídos pelo odor emitido pelas flores no início da noite já contendo pólen em seus corpos e penetraram na câmara floral, onde permaneceram por até 48h alimentando-se das pétalas e de pólen, copulando, e ao tocarem nos estigmas receptivos, depositaram pólen. Posteriormente, flores em fase masculina liberaram pólen que novamente sujou o corpo dos besouros e, com a queda da flor, voaram para outra flor recém-aberta e em fase feminina, iniciando novo ciclo de polinização. A. coriacea é uma espécie autocompatível e Cyclocephala foram polinizadores muito eficientes. Termos para indexação: Annona coriacea, autocompatibilidade, Cerrado, Cyclocephala, polinização por besouros. POLLINATION AND REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF ARATICUM-LISO (Annona coriacea Mart.: ANNONACEAE) IN A SAVANNA AREA: IMPLICATION TO FRUIT GROWINGABSTRACT -Anonaceous, in general, are cantharophilous highly specialized, presenting thick, fleshy and nutritious petals forming a floral chamber with thermogenese occurrence. This study aimed to verify the effective pollinators and prevalent breeding system in A. coriacea. Flowers were marked and accompanied during day and night periods to verify legitimate pollinators. Treatments of hand pollination were done to determine the breeding system. Scarab beetles Cyclocephala atricapilla and Cyclocephala quatuordecimpunctata (Dynastinae) were attracted by the scent exhaled by flowers in the beginning of the night already containing pollen on their bodies and penetrated into floral chamber, where stayed until 48 h feeding on the petals and shed pollen, copulating and when they touched the receptive stigmas, deposited pollen. Afterwards, flower in male phase released pollen that once more got the beetle bodies dirty and with the flower fall they flied to new-open flower and in female phase starting new pollination cycle. A. coriacea is a self-compatible species and Cyclocephala were considered very efficient pollinators.

Ants, an ecologically successful and numerically dominant group of animals, play key ecological roles as soil engineers, predators, nutrient recyclers, and regulators of plant growth and reproduction in most terrestrial ecosystems. Further, ants are widely used as bioindicators of the ecological impact of land use. We gathered information of ant species in the Atlantic Forest of South America. The ATLANTIC ANTS data set, which is part of the ATLANTIC SERIES data papers, is a compilation of ant records from collections (18,713 records), unpublished data (29,651 records), and published sources (106,910 records; 1,059 references), including papers, theses, dissertations, and book chapters published from 1886 to 2020. In total, the data set contains 153,818 ant records from 7,636 study locations in the Atlantic Forest, representing 10 subfamilies, 99 genera, 1,114 ant species identified with updated taxonomic certainty, and 2,235 morphospecies codes. Our data set reflects the heterogeneity in ant records, which include ants sampled at the beginning of the taxonomic history of myrmecology (the 19th and 20th centuries) and more recent ant surveys designed to address specific questions in ecology and biology. The data set can be used by researchers to develop strategies to deal with different macroecological and region‐wide questions, focusing on assemblages, species occurrences, and distribution patterns. Furthermore, the data can be used to assess the consequences of changes in land use in the Atlantic Forest on different ecological processes. No copyright restrictions apply to the use of this data set, but we request that authors cite this data paper when using these data in publications or teaching events.

The pollination biology and breeding system of Couepia uiti was studied. In this species, flowers opened at 06:00 AM anthesis, and nectar production began at around 0800 h, reached a maximum volume from 09:30 AM to 10:30 AM, and decreased thereafter. The nectar sugar concentration increased continuously, but showed an abrupt increase from 10:00 AM to 12:00 AM. Pollen release occurred at about 09:30 AM and was quickly collected. The stigmas became receptive at around 12:00 AM. The pollinators of C. uiti included the bees Apis mellifera, Xylocopa sp. and Bombus sp., and three species of wasps. This conclusion was based on the observation that these hymenopterans had C. uiti pollen on their bodies, visited the receptive flowers, and touched the anthers and stigmas, thereby promoting pollination. Of these floral visitors, A. mellifera was considered to be the most efficient pollinator. However, mixed pollination also occurred. The number of C. uiti flowers visited in the morning (n = 52) was three times smaller than in the afternoon (n = 62), and the species richness of floral visitors was also bigger in the afternoon (eight in the afternoon versus five in the morning). This finding indicated that these floral visitors preferred to exploit nectar rather than pollen. Controlled pollination experiments showed that C. uiti was a self-incompatible species that produced fruits only by cross-pollination. Treatments such as agamospermy and spontaneous and self-pollinations did not produce fruits.Keywords: breeding system, chrysobalanaceae, Couepia uiti, hymenoptera, pollination biology. Polinização e sistema reprodutivo de Couepia uiti (Chrysobalanaceae, no Pantanal da Nhecolândia ResumoEstudei a biologia da polinização e o sistema reprodutivo de Couepia uiti. Esta espécie apresentou antese matutina, produção de néctar iniciou por volta das 08:00 horas, atingindo volume máximo entre 09:30 e 10:30 horas e diminuindo após este horário. A concentração de açúcares no néctar aumentou continuamente, apresentando aumento abrupto entre 10:00 e 12:00 horas. A liberação de pólen ocorreu às 09:30 horas e este foi rapidamente removido. O estigma estava receptivo às 12:00 horas. Considerei polinizadores de C. uiti as abelhas: Apis mellifera, Xylocopa sp., Bombus sp. e três espécies de vespas, pois apresentaram polén de C. uiti em seus corpos. Visitaram flores quando estavam receptivas, tocando as anteras e os estigmas, promovendo a polinização. Dentre os visitantes florais, A. mellifera foi considerado o polinizador mais eficiente, no entanto, polinização mista parece ocorrer. O número de visitas a flores de C. uiti pela manhã (n = 52) foi três vezes menor que o encontrado no período da tarde (n = 162) e o número de espé-cies de visitantes também foi maior à tarde, sendo encontradas cinco espécies durante a manhã e oito à tarde. Portanto, é possível concluir que estes visitantes florais preferem explorar o néctar em comparação ao pólen. Os tratamentos de polinizações controladas mostraram que C. uiti é uma espécie auto-incompat...

No abstract

Beetles of the family Cerambycidae can girdle stems and larvae bore live or dead stems of their host plants (Linsley 1961), and when they use active tissues (e.g. xylem), can affect the development and survivorship of their hosts (Nowak et al. 2001). Moreover, borer attack can rapidly stress host plants (Matter 2001), often killing them (Nowak et al. 2001). Consequently, they can cause changes in size structure of the plant population, depending on the intensity of attack and plant survival rates (Caraglio et al. 2001). Cerambycids of the genus Oncideres (Lamiinae) present the most specialized behaviour in host-plant use, in which the female cuts stems with its mandibles and prepares the oviposition site above the cut portion by perforating the bark and then inserting eggs (Caraglio et al. 2001, Rice 1989, 1995).

Frugivory in Bromelia balansae (Bromeliaceae): the effect of seed passage through the digestive system of potential seed dispersers on germination in an Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil. The Serra do Japi-SP Ecological Reserve is one of the last large areas of continuous forest in the interior of state São Paulo, and currently suffers great anthropic pressure due to the urbanization process in its surroundings. The dispersion of seeds by frugivorous mammals has great importance in the regeneration of altered areas and the composition of seed banks. In this work we identified some frugivores of B. balansae and tested the viability of seeds present in their feces. To identify the frugivores were installed "foot traps" near plants with mature fruits. Mammalian feces were collected and analyzed in order to find seeds of B. balansae. Three species of frugivores were identified: Cerdocyon thous, Nasua nasua and Didelphis sp. In captivity, mature fruits of B. balansae were offered to crab-eating foxes and coati to obtain seeds passed through the digestive tract of these animals. The seeds contained in the feces of these mammals were collected for germination experiments in the laboratory. As a control, seeds were extracted directly from mature fruits for germination tests. As main results, we verified that the seeds remained viable and intact after passing through the digestive tract of these two species. Seeds that passed through the digestive tract of N. nasua and C. thous germinated faster than seeds from fruits. Coati gut passage showed significantly higher germinability than both groups of seeds, without pulp and with pulp. But the germinability of seeds with pulp removal was significantly higher than seeds with pulp. However, seeds that were intact after crab-eating foxes gut passage showed germination significantly higher than that seed with pulp, but showed no significant differences when compared to the seeds with removed pulp. Also, our data indicate that the coati gut passage has a higher positive effect on the seed germination of B. balansae than seed from foxes feces and mature fruits treatments. The plant architecture and leaf morphology of B. balansae restricts small size dispersers and favors the access of larger animals to the fruits, such as coatis and crab-eating foxes, ensuring the dispersion of seeds over long distances.