Teixeiria lusitanica, a new fossil flower from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal with affinities to Ranunculales

A charcoalified fossil flower bud of a new genus and species (Teixeiria lusitanica) is described from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal. The flower is actinomorphic and unisexually male. At the base of the bud there are several bracts of different sizes, which are followed by sepal-like and petal-like tepals. Bracts and perianth organs seem to be arranged spirally and to exhibit transitions between different organ categories. The androecium has numerous stamens in two sizes, but with unclear arrangement. Pollen is small and tricolpate with a perforate tectum and a densely columellate infratectal layer. No carpels or remains of carpels could be observed on the floral axis. Teixeiria lusitanica shows most affinities to members of Ranunculales. There are also some similarities with Berberidopsis (Berberidopsidaceae, Berberidopsidales) and members of the Saxifragales (Hamamelidaceae and Daphniphyllaceae).     

Die Ölblumensymbiosen – Parallelismus and andere Aspekte ihrer Entwicklung in Raum and Zeit1, 2

The oil-bee/oil-flower relationships: parallelism and other aspects of their evolution in space and time A survey is given of our present knowledge and existing hypotheses concerning the biogeography, history, and phylogeny of plant taxa yielding fatty oil as a floral reward, and of the bee genera involved in their pollination. Four syngenetic complexes of the symbiosis arose convergently: The neotropical, the paleotropical, the holarctic, and the capensic complex. On the basis of the mutual structural adaptations of bees and flowers it is concluded that, in addition, parallelism within related groups as a result of a common tendency to develop the respective organs, has played an important role in the evolution of the oil-based floral interrelationships.     

Flower heliotropism in an alpine population of Ranunculus acris (Ranunculaceae): effects on flower temperature,insect visitation,and seed production

Some plants in arctic and alpine habitats have heliotropic flowers that track the sun. This results in a heating of the flower's interior, which may improve the possibilities for insect pollination and seed production. Here, I examine whether flower heliotropism in an alpine population of the self-incompatible Ranunculus acris L. (Ranunculaceae) enhances pollinator visitation and seed production. Flowers of Ranunculus acris tracked the sun during the day. Tracking accuracy was greatest during the middle of the day. The temperature elevation in flowers was negatively correlated with the flower's angle of deviation from the sun. Despite the increased temperature, insects did not discriminate among flowers on the basis of their angle of deviation from the sun, or tend to stay longer in the flowers aligned closest towards the sun. A tethering experiment was conducted on three groups of plants flowering at different times in the 1993 season and on one group the following season. Manipulation plants were constrained not to track the sun, whereas control plants tracked the sun naturally. Solar tracking had no effect on seed:ovule ratio, seed mass, or abortion rate in any of the groups. There is probably a very narrow range of weather conditions (cold, sunny, and calm) where flower heliotropism may enhance visitation rate to flowers and their seed production.     

Phenylcoumarins from Ochrocarpus Siamensis

Two new phenylcoumarins, 6-butyryl-5-hydroxy-4-phenylseselin and 6-butyryl-5,7-dihydroxy-8-(3,3dimethylallyl)-4-phenyleoumarin, were isolated from the flowers of Ochrocarpus siamensis.     

Responses of Javan Gibbon (Hylobates moloch) Groups in Submontane Forest to Monthly Variation in Food Availability: Evidence for Variation on a Fine Spatial Scale

Primates tend to prefer specific plant foods, and primate home ranges may contain only a subset of food species present in an area. Thus, primate feeding strategies should be sensitive to the phenology of specific species encountered within the home range in addition to responding to larger scale phenomena such as seasonal changes in rainfall or temperature. We studied three groups of Javan gibbons (Hylobates moloch) in the Gunung Halimun‐Salak National Park, Indonesia from April 2008 to March 2009 and used general linear mixed models (GLMM) and a model selection procedure to investigate the effects of variation in fruit and flower availability on gibbon behavior. Preferred foods were defined as foods that are overselected relative to their abundance, while important food species were those that comprised >5% of feeding time. All important species were also preferred. Season and measurements of flower and fruit availability affected fruit‐feeding time, daily path lengths (DPL), and dietary breadth. Models that included the availability of preferred foods as independent variables generally showed better explanatory power than models that used overall fruit or flower availability. For one group, fruit and preferred fruit abundance had the strongest effects on diets and DPL in the models selected, while another group was more responsive to changes in flower availability. Temporal variation in plant part consumption was not correlated in neighboring groups. Our results suggest that fine‐scale local factors are important determinants of gibbon foraging strategies. Am. J. Primatol. 74:1154‐1167, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Mecardonia tenella (Plantaginaceae) Attracts Oil-, Perfume-, and Pollen-Gathering Bees in Southern Brazil

Floral characteristics often indicate the pollinators' functional group visiting the plant and the pollination syndromes associated with them. This idea has been challenged in the past decades due to increasing evidence that most plants, including those exhibiting floral syndromes, are visited by large arrays of species that differ in their effectiveness as pollinators. Our study focuses on Mecardonia tenella (Plantaginaceae) from the Araucaria forest of southern Brazil, which exhibits characteristics of the oil flower pollination syndrome. However, it is visited by three types of functional groups of bees: male orchid bees, oil-collecting bees, and pollen-seeking bees. The relative contribution of each functional group to the plant's reproductive success was estimated based on their pollen load, visitation frequency, and morphology. We assessed resources, phenology, and breeding system of M. tenella . Our results indicate that flowers lack nectar, but volatiles, lipids, and pollen are resources that can be gathered by visitors. This combination of floral traits and visitors' assemblage makes M. tenella a challenge to the concept of pollination syndromes. Our findings indicate that the current interactions may not reflect the circumstances under which some floral traits of this plant were selected.     

鲜花的光学性质

本文采用反射光谱、荧光光谱、激发光谱研究了迎春花、紫红色芍药、大红月季和橙红月季的光生态。结果表明,不同的鲜花光生态有明显的差异,鲜花中的花青素和类胡萝卜素在紫外光、可见光的激发下发出荧光,使鲜花更加鲜艳靓丽。通过对鲜花光生态的讨论,揭示出阳光对花儿的影响与作用,为鲜花光生态膜的开发以及人工照明的应用提供一定的生态依据。     

表油菜素内酯对月季切花保鲜作用的研究

本文初步探讨了表油菜素内酯（epiBR）对瓶插月季切花的保鲜作用。与对照（蒸馏水）和基本液（2％蔗糖＋500mgL-1柠檬酸＋250mgL-8-羟基喹啉＋25mgAgNO3）相比,经epiBR处理（基本液＋0．1mgL-1epiBR）的月季切花花枝坚挺,蓝变延迟,瓶插寿命延长1-1.5倍。测定有关生理指标表明,epiBR处理对月季切花瓶插花枝前期鲜重的增加及后期的保持有明显作用。并显著延缓花瓣和叶片质膜相对透性的增加,还能使瓶插前期花瓣还原糖含量增加。epiBR处理对花瓣蛋白质和叶片叶绿素含量变化无明显影响,而对花瓣花青素水平下降有轻微的促进作用。     

Darwin's legacy: the forms,function and sexual diversity of flowers

Charles Darwin studied floral biology for over 40 years and wrote three major books on plant reproduction. These works have provided the conceptual foundation for understanding floral adaptations that promote cross-fertilization and the mechanisms responsible for evolutionary transitions in reproductive systems. Many of Darwin''s insights, gained from careful observations and experiments on diverse angiosperm species, remain remarkably durable today and have stimulated much current research on floral function and the evolution of mating systems. Here I review Darwin''s seminal contributions to reproductive biology and provide an overview of the current status of research on several of the main topics to which he devoted considerable effort, including the consequences to fitness of cross- versus self-fertilization, the evolution and function of stylar polymorphisms, the adaptive significance of heteranthery, the origins of dioecy and related gender polymorphisms, and the transition from animal pollination to wind pollination. Post-Darwinian perspectives on floral function now recognize the importance of pollen dispersal and male outcrossed siring success in shaping floral adaptation. This has helped to link work on pollination biology and mating systems, two subfields of reproductive biology that remained largely isolated during much of the twentieth century despite Darwin''s efforts towards integration.     

Predicting walnut (Juglans spp.) crop yield using meteorological and airborne pollen data

Crop yield determines economy by influencing prices on the trade market, and so accurate forecasts of the yield are important for planning various aspects of agricultural production. The main aim of this study is to construct a model for predicting walnut yield in an important walnut production area (the region of Novi Sad in Northern Serbia). Relationships between the amount of walnuts produced annually (2000–2011) and abiotic (e.g. meteorological) and biotic (e.g. airborne pollen data) factors were examined using Pearson correlation analysis. Walnut yield data were then entered into linear regression models with variables that had the highest correlations. The models were constructed using 10 years of data, and tested using 2 years of data not included in constructing the model. This paper has shown that walnut yield is greatly dependent on weather conditions, particularly during fertilisation and seed growth, but the amount of available airborne pollen also plays an important role. The introduction of the seasonal pollen index, as a proxy for the amount of pollen available for fertilisation, improved the performance of models predicting walnut yield.