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Floral display influences male and female reproductive success of the deceptive orchid Phaius delavayi

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Abstract

The influence of floral display on male and female reproductive success is variable without consistent patterns. Few studies concentrate on the integrated influence of the different components of floral display on reproductive fitness at population level. We studied the impact of different components of floral display on reproductive success in the Chinese orchid Phaius delavayi. This deceptive orchid has flowers in which male and female success can be readily assessed in the field by observing rates of pollinarium removal and fruit initiation. The results showed that mean pollinarium removal (52.05 ± 2.08%) was higher than fruit set (36.78 ± 1.89%), and both male and female reproductive success decreased with increasing clump size in Phaius delavayi. Nevertheless, floral display expressed by clump size and flower position impacted both female and male reproductive success, whereas flowering initiation and duration, and inflorescence size had no effect.

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Acknowledgments

We thank two anonymous reviewers for improving the manuscript, and Drs. Qu Rongming, Shi Jun, Meng Qianwan, Yuan Xiaohong, and Yao Hong from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences for their helpful advice. This paper was funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (30900183).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, China

    P. Li

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Nanchang Institute of Technology, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China

    B. Q. Huang

  3. Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL, USA

    R. W. Pemberton

  4. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Y. B. Luo

  5. College of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China

    J. Cheng

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  1. P. Li
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  2. B. Q. Huang
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  4. Y. B. Luo
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  5. J. Cheng
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Correspondence to P. Li.

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Li, P., Huang, B.Q., Pemberton, R.W. et al. Floral display influences male and female reproductive success of the deceptive orchid Phaius delavayi . Plant Syst Evol 296, 21–27 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-011-0473-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-011-0473-8

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