Low abundance of long-tongued pollinators leads to pollen limitation in four specialized hawkmoth-pollinated plants in the Atlantic Rain forest, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Depression by inbreeding after four sucessive self-pollination squash generations

The strategy for breeding F-1 hybrid squash is to develop parental lines through self-pollination. However, it increases plant mean homozygosis, which is not the natural genetic state of a cross-pollinated species, and can cause inbreeding depression. The objective of this work was to evaluate this depression with sucessive generations of self-pollination (without selection) in Cucurbita moschata, cv. Piramoita. Populations were obtained from lines with one to four generations of self-pollination (obtained by the SSD method), from the original cv. Piramoita (population SO). Randomized blocks were used with five treatments (different generations of self-pollination -S-0 to S-4), six replicates and five plants per plot. Regression analysis was made by the Wright inbreeding coefficient (F) to measure the homozygosis level effect on vigor loss. There was a linear reduction of mean weight and fruit length, seed production (number and weight) per fruit with the increase of the homozygosis level; however inbreeding did not affect seed quality (weight of 100 seeds and germination).

Pollination Biology of Jacaranda oxyphylla with an Emphasis on Staminode Function

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Seed rain and seed limitation in a planted gallery forest in Brazil

With seeds collected monthly during one year from 53 1-m(2) seed traps, we investigated the seed rain and seed limitation in a gallery forest planted in 1994 in SE Brazil. Contrasting animal- (zoochorous) and wind-dispersed (anemochorous) plants we investigated (1) which aspects of the composition and structure of the vegetation influence the abundance and species richness of the seed rain; (2) if such influences differ between zoochorous and anemochorous seeds; (3) if the abundance and richness of the seed rain sampled under zoochorous and nonzoochorous plant species differ; and (4) if seed limitation (given by the proportion of sites to which seeds were not dispersed) differs between zoochorous and anemochorous plant species, and also between species that have been planted and those that further colonized the area (colonists). Seed rain was intense and dominated by anemochorous species. The overall seed rain was not influenced by the vegetation parameters we analyzed (canopy height and cover, plant size, abundance, and richness) or by the plant species above the seed trap. The abundance and richness of zoochorous seeds in a given spot was influenced by the abundance and richness of zoochorous plants in its immediate vicinity. Seed limitation was higher for anemochorous than zoochorous species and higher for planted than for colonist species. We concluded with recommendations for the initial establishment of a planted forest, including the homogeneous distribution of zoochorous plants to permit a spatially homogeneous zoochorous seedfall, which will likely enhance the chances of survival and successful establishment of seeds.

Pollination of Adenocalymma bracteatum (Bignoniaceae): Floral Biology and Visitors

Adenocalymma bracteatum is a shrub of dense foliage and yellow flowers, easily found on grasslands areas in Central Brazil. The aim of this study was to determine the reproductive biology and the flower visitors of A. bracteatum in a pasture area nearby Ivinhema city, MS (Brazil). The flowering peak occurs in winter. The flower reflects ultraviolet light. Anthesis begins at 6:30h, and pollen and nectar are the resources to visitors. We captured 1,038 floral visitors. The bees Apis mellifera (L.), Trigona sp., Trigona spinipes (Fabricius), (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) and the ant Cephalotes sp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) were the main visitors. The reproductive tests indicate that A. bracteatum is self compatible, justifying its expansion in altered environments; however, the largest reproductive success was dependant on cross-pollination and self-pollination, evidencing the pollinators importance. Adenocalymma bracteatum presents melittophilous syndrome and bumblebees were the main pollinators in the area. The correlations observed between the climatic variables and the main pollinator species were low or medium.

Effects of bamboo stands on seed rain and seed limitation in a rainforest

Bamboos often negatively affect tree recruitment, survival, and growth, leading to arrested tree regeneration in forested habitats. Studies so far have focused on the effects of bamboos on the performance of seedlings and saplings, but the influence of bamboos on forest dynamics may start very early in the forest regeneration process by altering seed rain patterns. We tested the prediction that the density and composition of the seed rain are altered and seed limitation is higher in stands of Guadua tagoara (B or bamboo stands), a large-sized woody bamboo native from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, compared to forest patches without bamboos (NB or non-bamboo stands). Forty 1 m(2) seed traps were set in B and NB stands, and the seed rain was monitored monthly for 1 year. The seed rain was not greatly altered by the presence of bamboos: rarefied seed species richness was higher for B stands, patterns of dominance and density of seeds were similar between stands, and differences in overall composition were slight. Seed limitation, however, was greater at B stands, likely as a resulted of reduced tree density. Despite Such reduced density, the presence of trees growing amidst and over the bamboos seems to play a key role in keeping the seeds falling in B stands because they serve as food sources for frugivores or simply as perches for them. The loss of such trees may lead to enhanced seed limitation, contributing ultimately to the self-perpetuating bamboo disturbance cycle. (C) 2008 Elsevier B,V. All rights reserved.

Pollination biology of Syngonanthus elegans (Eriocaulaceae - Poales)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Invasive Africanized honeybees change the structure of native pollination networks in Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Components of fecundity and abortion in a tropical tree, Dahlstedtia pentaphylla (Leguminosae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Pollination and dispersal systems in a Cerrado remnant (Brazilian Savanna) in Southeastern Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Glucose reactivity with filling materials as a limitation for using the glucose leakage model

Aim To evaluate the reactivity of different endodontic materials and sealers with glucose and to asses the reliability of the glucose leakage model in measuring penetration of glucose through these materials.Methodology Ten uniform discs (radius 5 mm, thickness 2 mm) were made of each of the following materials: Portland cement, MTA (grey and white), sealer 26, calcium sulphate, calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)(2)], AH26,Epiphany, Resilon, gutta-percha and dentine. After storing the discs for 1 week at 37 degrees C and humid conditions, they were immersed in 0.2 mg mL(-1) glucose solution in a test tube. The concentration of glucose was evaluated using an enzymatic reaction after 1 week. Statistical analysis was performed with the ANOVA and Dunnett tests at a significant level of P < 0.05.Results Portland cement, MTA, Ca(OH)(2) and sealer 26 reduced the concentration in the test tube of glucose significantly after 1 week (P < 0.05). Calcium sulphate reduced the concentration of glucose, but the difference in concentrations was not significant (P = 0.054).Conclusions Portland cement, MTA, Ca(OH)(2) and sealer 26 react with a 0.2 mg mL(-1) glucose solution. Therefore, these materials should not be evaluated for sealing ability with the glucose leakage model.

The reproductive biology of Cybistax antisyphilitica (Bignoniaceae), a characteristic tree of the South American savannah-like "Cerrado" vegetation

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Entomophilous pollination in rape (Brassica napus L. var. oleifera) in Brazil

The most frequent insect visitors to the flower were: Apis mellifera, 80.6%; Trigona spinipes, 12.8% and Dialictus sp, 6.6%. -from Authors