Reproductive biology of a natural mangrove hybrid Rhizophora annamalayana and its parent species (R. apiculata and R. mucronata) (Rhizophoraceae)
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Kavitha Seetharaman
Abstract
Rhizophora annamalayana is a natural mangrove hybrid with a rare seed set; the species is fast disappearing. We investigated possible causes of rare fruit set and explored ways of overcoming reproductive difficulties in this mangrove. Flowers open in the early morning in the hybrid and its parent species. Anthers dehisced after flower opening only in Rhizophora mucronata and Rhizophora apiculata. Anthesis and anther dehiscence took up to 5 days in all three species. Stigma receptivity peaked during anthesis; receptivity was lost within 8 h in R. annamalayana and R. mucronata. In R. apiculata, anthesis occurred inside the flowers, confirming that cleiostogamy occurred. Pollen of R. mucronata was 100% viable. Viability was 53% in R. apiculata. In R. annamalayana, only 3% of pollen was viable. R. mucronata flowers offered pollen and nectar to visitors, which were mainly Lucilia caesar (flies, bees, ants, etc.). Pollinators of R. annamalayana were restricted to Monobia quadridens, Vespa tropica and Ocybadistes walkeri. R. annamalayana reproduced by cross-pollination.
©2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Research Articles
- Iberian intertidal turf assemblages dominated by Erythroglossum lusitanicum (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta): structure, temporal dynamics, and phenology
- Checklist of marine benthic green algae (Chlorophyta) on Hainan, a subtropical island off the coast of China: comparisons between the 1930s and 1990–2009 reveal environmental changes
- Notes on marine algae in the International Biosphere Reserve Seaflower, Caribbean Colombian I: new records of macroalgal epiphytes on the seagrass Thalassia testudinum
- Ceramium cormacii sp. nov. (Ceramiaceae, Rhodophyta), a new Mediterranean species epizoic on loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta)
- Life history of Chaetomorpha valida (Cladophoraceae, Chlorophyta) in culture
- Identification of hypo-osmotically induced genes in Kappaphycus alvarezii (Solieriaceae, Rhodophyta) through expressed sequence tag analysis
- Morphological variation in a small Thalassiosira species (Bacillariophyta) under different culture regimes
- Occurrence of the seagrass Halophila stipulacea (Hydrocharitaceae) in the southern Mediterranean Sea
- Reproductive biology of a natural mangrove hybrid Rhizophora annamalayana and its parent species (R. apiculata and R. mucronata) (Rhizophoraceae)
