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Comparative pollination ecology, fruit and seed set in Corunastylis species (Orchidaceae)

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Abstract

Corunastylis species produce some of the smallest, fly-pollinated flowers of Australian orchids to offer liquid rewards. We observed and collected pollinarium vectors of four Corunastylis species (C. filiformis, C. fimbriata, C. rufa and C. ruppii) with overlapping flowering periods during the summer–autumn months at five sites in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The most common pollinarium vectors of all species were females of a single morphotype in the genus Conioscinella (Diptera: Chloropidae). This morphotype was less than 3 mm in length and carried dorsal depositions of pollinaria on its thorax. A chloropid could carry as many as two pollinaria and 25–50% of attached pollinia showed erosion, suggesting previous contact with receptive stigmas. Bagging experiments on three species showed low rates of mechanical self-pollination and no fruit set in C. filiformis, C. fimbriata and C. ruppii. The conversion rate of insect-pollinated flowers into fruit varied from 35 to 91% among these three species in NSW versus C. ciliata in Victoria. Seed development also varied with > 42–70% of seeds in the three species in NSW containing fully developed embryos. High levels of reproductive success in these three species in NSW and C. ciliata in Victoria were the same as for fruit sets in other orchid species in other genera with nectar-secreting flowers. As flowering periods, distributions and primary pollinators of four Corunastylis species in NSW overlapped so broadly there appears to be a lack of pre-zygotic interspecific isolation mechanisms. This study provided important pollination and reproductive information towards future conservation management of these orchid species.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney, New South Wales for their ongoing logistic support, laboratory access and budget management under Dr. Peter Weston. We thank Mr. Chris Gibson for access to his property along the Bloodwood Road and Rudie Kuiter for taking us to the population of C. ciliata at Crib Point. Dr. John Martin of the Australian Museum, Sydney, photographed the C. ruppii flower and chloropid specimens. We are most grateful to Dr. Gerardo Camilo, Saint Louis University, for his guidance in the selection of appropriate statistical analyses.

Funding

Research was funded by the Australian Orchid Foundation (Project 303.15).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming, 650201, China

    Zong-Xin Ren

  2. 68 Ayres Road, St Ives, NSW, 2175, Australia

    Wendy Grimm

  3. Ecoplanning Pty Ltd, 74 Hutton Avenue, Bulli, NSW, 2516, Australia

    Brian Towle

  4. College of Agriculture, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, 471000, China

    Qi Qiao

  5. Entomology Section, Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia

    Daniel J. Bickel

  6. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Richmond, NSW, Australia

    Soraya K. M. Outim

  7. Bayer Herbarium, Saint Louis University, The Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    Peter Bernhardt

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Correspondence to Peter Bernhardt.

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Online Resource 1. Study species, study sites, use of target populations of Corunastylis species.

Online Resource 2. Pollen adhesion and tube growth in the style of Corunastylis fimbriata. a Epifluorescence of pollen tubes germinating and penetrating the style of C. fimbriata exposed to insects. b Epifluorescence of comparatively fewer, pollen tubes germinating on the stigma of C. fimbriata from a bagged flower. All photographs by Qi Qiao.

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Ren, ZX., Grimm, W., Towle, B. et al. Comparative pollination ecology, fruit and seed set in Corunastylis species (Orchidaceae). Plant Syst Evol 309, 7 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-023-01845-3

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