Función de la corona en Passiflora caerulea (Passifloraceae) como atrayente de sus vectores de polinización.

COCUCCI A. A.; VARELA, G.; SÉRSIC, A. N.

BOLETíN DE LA SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE BOTáNICA

SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE BOTÁNICA

Lugar: Córdoba; Año: 2016 vol. 51 p. 99 - 110

0373-580X

p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 120%; }Roleof the corona in Passiflora caerulea(Passifloraceae) as attractant totheir pollinators.Passiflora caerulea L.flowers, like those of manyother zoophilic species, offer nectar as reward to their pollinatorsas a primary attractant. This species has developed stimuli orsecondary attractants that announce the presence of primary one (i.e.the nectar) and ensure repeated visits from their pollination vectorsoptimizing reproduction. The corona, a characteristic structure ofthe Passifloraceae family, has been reported for P. caerulea as theorgan that produces visual and olfactory stimuli on theirpollinators. By preference experiments, nullifying either one or bothfunctions, the importance of each one in attracting pollinators wasevaluated. The suppression of functions, individually and together,produced a significant decrease in the number of visits compared tothe controls. Thus, the importance of visual and odorant functionswas verified; greater efficacy was recorded for the last one in thefrequency of visits. Additionally, the volatile compounds produced bythe flowers were identified, some of which were produced by theperianth and not by the corona, as was expected.