Phenological Properties of Wind‐ and Insect‐Pollinated Prairie Plants

Abstract

The number of flowering stems for 82 species on a transect 2 x 400 m was counted twice weekly during 1978 at Tucker Prairie, Callaway County, Missouri, USA, a tall—grass prairie remnant. Phenological curves (number of flowering stems vs. day of the year) are narrower (smaller standard deviations) for wind—pollinated species than for insect—pollinated species. Symmetry (g1) does not differ significantly for wind— and insect—pollinated species. The curves are largely either symmetric or begin abruptly and end gradually (right—skewed). Overlap, measured as the fraction of the area under the curves occupied by two or more species, does not differ significantly for wind— and insect—pollinated species, among 20 groups of five randomly drawn species. Dates of peak flowering are distributed randomly over the season (May to November 1978) and their distributions do not differ for wind— and insect—pollinated species. Dates of peak flowering are also randomly distributed for grasses, legumes, and composites considered separately. Thus, although species with different pollination modes show different shapes for phenological curves, the species aggregated into the community do not have ensemble patterns of temporal dispersion or overlap and cannot be distinguished from a random collection.

Toward a synthetic understanding of the role of phenology in ecology and evolution

“…Timing of germination and flowering in plant populations is often positively skewed (Rabinowitz et al 1981;Rathcke & Lacey 1985;Brown & Mayer 1988), as are timing of emergence in insects (Danks 2006) and arrival and laying dates in migratory birds (Sparks et al 2005;Laaksonen et al 2006). This pattern may arise because most individuals respond rapidly and similarly to the relevant environmental cues, while a smaller number experience problems in development or migration that delay phenology to varying extents (Rathcke & Lacey 1985;Danks 2006).…”

Family, visitors and the weather: patterns of flowering in tropical rain forests of northern Australia

“…In the present study, failure to demonstrate staggered flowering times may also reflect the temporal and geographical scale at which data have been collected and analysed. While staggered flowering of species has been shown across several months (Rabinowitz et al 1981), other authors have found that, for many species, anthesis occurs over a matter of days or weeks, rather than months (e.g. Syzygium tierneyanum, Hopper 1980; Shorea spp., Yap & Chan 1990;Shorea parvifolia, Sakai et al 1999;Uvaria elmeri, Nagamitsu & Inoue 1997).…”

Pollen‐tube growth rate and seed‐siring success among Betula pendula clones

“…Among wind-pollinated species, pollen can be carried over long distances (Hjelmroos, 1991) and pollen release tends to occur quite synchronously (Rabinowitz et al, 1981) in association with dry, warm conditions (Biancchi et al, 1959 ;Ka$ pyla$ , 1984), which increases the probability of mixed pollen loads. Wind-pollinated species have several kinds of mechanism for catching pollen, such as the closely fitting catkin scales of Betula and Corylus species, which make the pollination more effective (Faegri & van der Pijl, 1971).…”