Variation in pollinator assemblages in a fragmented landscape and its effects on reproductive stages of a self-incompatible treelet, Psychotria suterella (Rubiaceae).

Few studies of plant-pollinator interactions in fragmented landscapes evaluate the consequences of floral visitor variation on multiple stages of plant reproduction. Given that fragmentation potentially has positive or negative effects on different organisms, and that self-incompatible plant species depend on pollinators for sexual reproduction, differences in floral visitor assemblages may affect certain plant reproductive stages. We evaluated how pollinator assemblage, availability of floral resources, pollination, reproductive output, and seed and seedling performance of Psychotria suterella Muell. Arg. varied among three fragmentation categories: non-fragmented habitats, fragments connected by corridors, and isolated fragments. Richness and frequency of floral visitors were greater in fragments than in non-fragmented sites, resulting mainly from the addition of species typically found in disturbed areas. Although 24 species visited Psychotria suterella flowers, bumblebees were considered the most important pollinators, because they showed the highest frequency of visits and were present in eight out of ten sites. Additionally, the number of pollen tubes per flower per visit was lower in areas without bumblebees. The increased visitation in fragments seemed to enhance pollination slightly. However, fruit and seed output, germination, and seed and seedling mass were similar in non-fragmented sites, connected sites, and isolated fragments. Our results suggested that, even for a self-incompatible species, responses to habitat fragmentation at different stages of plant reproduction might be decoupled from the responses observed in floral visitors, if fruit set is not pollen limited. If all reproductive stages were considered, variation on the small scale was more important than the variation explained by fragmentation category. In spite of its self-incompatible breeding system, this plant-pollinator system showed resilience to habitat fragmentation, mainly as a result of high availability of potential mates to P. suterella individuals, absence of pollen limitation, and the presence of bumblebees (Bombus spp.) throughout this highly connected landscape.

Dyssochroma viridiflorum (Solanaceae): a reproductively bat-dependent epiphyte from the Atlantic rainforest in Brazil.

Few Neotropical plant species seem to depend on the same animal type both for pollination and seed dispersal, and the known instances refer mostly to birds as the agents in these two phases of a plant reproductive cycle. Dyssochroma viridiflorum (Solanaceae), an epiphyte endemic to the Atlantic rainforest in south-eastern Brazil, was found to be visited by phyllostomid bats for nectar as well as for fruits, with the pollination and seed dispersal of the plant ensured by these flying mammals. The greenish flowers open at night and are visited by the nectar-feeding bat Glossophaga soricina, whereas the yellowish-white fruits are consumed by two species of fruit-eating bats, Carollia perspicillata and Sturnira lilium. Only clinging visits, an uncommon behavioural pattern for glossophagine bats while feeding on flowers, were recorded. The small seeds of D. viridiflorum are swallowed along with the fruit pulp and later defecated on the bats' flying pathways. It is suggested that species of Dyssochroma and two other solanaceous bat-pollinated genera, Merinthopodium and Trianaea, form a derived and bat-dependent clade within the Juanulloeae.