POLLINATION BIOLOGY

Lecture Schedule

Lecture

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Pollination biology

Necessity for pollination in plants
Passive system in non-Angiosperms
Active system in most Angiosperms

Animal pollinating agents (zoophily)

Insects (entomophily)

Important pollinators
Coevolution of plants and insects (read paper by Hapeman and Inoue)

Beetles (coleopterophily, necrocoleopterophily)

Bees and wasps (hymenopterophily)

Most common type of pollinator
Attracted to flower by food

Bee flower characteristics

Catasetum orchid pollination (Science 232: 1538 [1986])

Fig wasp - fig pollination

Butterflies (psychophily)

Butterfly flower characteristics
Plant response to catepillar stage and not to adult stage

Moths (phalaenophily)

2 types of moths and pollination syndromes

day type
night type

Yucca (Agavaceae) and yucca moth (Pronuba = Tegeticula)

Carrion or dung flies, gnats, etc. (sapromyophily, necromyophily)

Birds (ornithophily)

Types of bird pollinators

Old world = honey creepers
New world = hummingbirds

Mammals

Bats (cheiropterophily)
Mice

Proteus (Proteaceae)
Blakea (Melastomataceae)

Human (anthropophily)