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Climate-induced abortion and predation: reproductive success of the pioneer shrub Dillenia suffruticosa in Malaysian Borneo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2015

Yuji Tokumoto  and
Michiko Nakagawa
Yuji Tokumoto*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, 565–0871, Japan
Michiko Nakagawa
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464–8601, Japan
*
1Corresponding author. Email: tokumoto.ug@gmail.com
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Abstract:

In South-East Asian tropical plants, the excess production of reproductive organs is believed to be controlled by resource booms. However, the continuously flowering shrub Dillenia suffruticosa (Dilleniaceae) is often infested by fruit predators and occasionally produces fruits where mature seeds are absent. These reproductive features may support an alternative hypothesis for excess production of reproductive organs: the reproductive assurance hypothesis. We marked 1190 reproductive organs in 180 inflorescences of 41 plant individuals and examined the relationships among the reproductive organ features and the effects of both climate and predators. During the flower budding stage, the fate of reproductive organs was primary climate-induced. The percentage of flower/fruit abscission increased as the cumulative temperature and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) decreased and the cumulative precipitation increased, supporting the resource boom hypothesis. Insect predation was the most common fate of immature fruits. As PAR increased, the prevalence of insect predation and production of mature seed increased. At a reduced PAR, the production of fruits with many immature seeds could serve as compensatory reproductive organs for insect predators, consistent with the reproductive assurance hypothesis. The excess production of reproductive organs might be a result of adaptation to climate fluctuations in the South-East Asian tropics.

Keywords

continuous floweringexcess productionpioneer plantreproductive assuranceresource boom
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 50 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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