FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THREAD-LIKE APPENDIX ON ARISAEMA URASHIMA (ARACEAE) ATTRACTING FUNGUS GNAT POLLINATORS

Despite the longstanding speculation, the functional significance of the unique long, filiform appendices commonly seen in many fly-pollinated flowers remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a removal experiment of the thread-like appendix in Arisaema urashima to examine its functional signific...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBulletin of the Ecological Society of America Vol. 103; no. 4; pp. 1 - 4
Main Authors Suetsugu, Kenji, Nishigaki, Hiroki, Fukushima, Shigeki, Ishitani, Eiji, Kakishima, Satoshi, Sueyoshi, Masahiro
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington John Wiley and Sons, Inc 01.10.2022
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Subjects
Ecology
Fungi
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Plant reproduction
Pollinators
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Summary:Despite the longstanding speculation, the functional significance of the unique long, filiform appendices commonly seen in many fly-pollinated flowers remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a removal experiment of the thread-like appendix in Arisaema urashima to examine its functional significance. The present study provides strong evidence for the attraction role of the thread-like appendix targeting its primary pollinators, the Mycetophila fungus gnats. Our study elucidates a century-old conundrum in pollination ecology: the functional role of the long thread-like appendix in fungus gnat-pollinated flowers.
ISSN:0012-9623
2327-6096
DOI:10.1002/bes2.2011