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Abortion of reproductive organs as an adaptation to fluctuating daily carbohydrate production

  • Population Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Excess flower production is a common phenomenon in hermaphrodite plants. The tropical pioneer shrub Melastoma malabathricum (Melastomataceae) frequently aborts not only young ovaries just after flowering, but also flower buds and developed ovaries. We tested a hypothesis that the excess production of reproductive organs and their abortion in this species is an adaptation to environmental fluctuations over shorter time scales than had previously been reported in other plants. To calculate the daily demand for carbohydrate and water by reproductive organs at the level of individual plants, we measured the respiration and transpiration of the reproductive organs at various stages and monitored their growth and abortion. To determine the daily supply of carbohydrate and water, we measured the photosynthetic productivity of leaf area, solar radiation and rainfall. The daily carbohydrate demands of the reproductive organs were significantly correlated with total photosynthetic productivity per leaf area during the previous 1, 3 and 5 days, but no correlations were found between the demands for water and accumulated rainfall or radiation. The daily abortion rates of the population were also correlated with demand for carbohydrates on the previous day per total photosynthetic productivity per leaf area. In brief, it was considered that this species produced and grew more reproductive organs when more resources were supplied and that the abortion occurred when demands for carbohydrate were large. Therefore our hypothesis was supported. We concluded that this reproductive strategy was an adaptation for pioneers characterized by continuous reproduction in aseasonal tropics. In our study, the adaptive consequence of excess production was determined by measuring natural environmental fluctuation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Tomoaki Ichie, Kochi University, for his support; Shoko Sakai, Kyoto University, for valuable advice; Megumi Yamashita, Kinki Surveyor School, for permission to use unpublished meteorological information; Kyoko Hamamoto and Kazuki Awazawa, Ehime University, for field assistance; Takayoshi Koike, Hokkaido University, for loaning us a conifer chamber; Tomonori Kume, University of Tokyo, for help with meteorological studies; and two anonymous reviewers and the handling editor for valuable comments on this paper. This study was carried out as a part of project no. 2 of the Research Institute of Humanity and Nature organized by Tohru Nakashizuka, and the CREST project organized by Masakazu Suzuki, University of Tokyo. We thank the organizers of these projects and their Malaysian counterparts, Lucy Chong, Sarawak Forest Corporation, and Josef J. Kendawang, Sarawak Forestry Department, as well as other project members. The experiments comply with the current law of Malaysia in which they were performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, Matsuyama, 790-8566, Japan

    Tamaki Kamoi & Kuniyasu Momose

  2. Forests and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba, 305-8687, Japan

    Tanaka Kenzo

  3. University Forest in Aichi, The University of Tokyo, Seto, Aichi, 489-0031, Japan

    Koichiro Kuraji

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  1. Tamaki Kamoi
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  2. Tanaka Kenzo
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  3. Koichiro Kuraji
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  4. Kuniyasu Momose
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Correspondence to Tamaki Kamoi.

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Communicated by Marylin Ball.

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Kamoi, T., Kenzo, T., Kuraji, K. et al. Abortion of reproductive organs as an adaptation to fluctuating daily carbohydrate production. Oecologia 154, 663–677 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0864-2

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