Biotemas (Dec 2009)
Pollination syndromes in a Rainforest Area, Paraíba, Brazil
Abstract
This work aimed to identify the pollination syndromes of species in Mata do Buraquinho, PB, Brazil. The relationships among the floral attributes of the vegetable species and the rewards offered to the pollinators were evaluated. Within the 88 species studied, 50.2% were whitish flowers and 48.7% were conspicuous, mainly represented by trees and shrubs. The majority of the species (66%) had small flowers, followed by large and medium flowers. Most of the shrubs, vines and herbs had small flowers. The collectivist pollination unit was the most representative (71.5%). The trees obtained the highest percentage among the collectivist species (30.1%). The tube was the predominant kind of flower (72.7%), followed by the disk, the flag and the inconspicuous. The majority of the flowers were actinomorphic (60.2%), while 38.6% were zigomorphic. Regarding the sexual systems, 88.6% were hermaphroditic flowers, while 8% were monoecious and only 3.4% were dioecious. The most frequent resource was nectar (64.7%), followed by pollen (14.7%), nectar/pollen (12.5%) and oil (1.1%). Entomophilia was the predominant pollination syndrome, followed by melitophilia (57%), other insects (16.8%) and psicophilia (14.7%). Melitophilia was the most representative among the trees. Ornithofilia represented 7% and chiropterophilia 3.4%. Neither ornithofilia nor chiropterophilia were found among the shrubs.
