ESJ58 シンポジウム S14-4
Elizabeth Crone (Harvard Univ.)
Synchronous mast-seeding can increase reproduction of individual plants by enhancing pollination success. In the context of mast-seeding, ecologists have often asserted that wind-pollinated plants would be most likely to benefit from synchrony, whereas benefits of synchrony for animal-pollinated plants depend on pollinator behavior. I investigate this hypothesis in relation to two mast-seeding species, Astragalus scaphoides, a bee-pollinated wildflower, and Pinus albicaulis, a wind-pollinated pine. Astragalus scaphoides plants experience higher pollination in mast years. For this species, because high flower densities increase pollinator constancy (i.e., in high flowering years, bees were more likely to visit two A. scaphoides plants in a row and transfer pollen). Pinus albicaulis plants do not experience increased pollination success in mast years. Like many wind-pollinated species, P. albicaulis plants produce separate male and female cones. In this species, low female-cone years are not low pollen years. These patterns directly contradict hypotheses about the pollination benefits of mast-seeding, but they make sense in light of general ecological theories, developed for non-masting species. I discuss the benefits of linking theories developed for mast-seeding plants per se with broader issues in plant ecology.