Premium
Floral scent differentiation among coflowering, sympatric species of Geonoma (Arecaceae)
Author(s) -
Knudsen Jette T.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
plant species biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1442-1984
pISSN - 0913-557X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1442-1984.1999.00017.x
Subject(s) - sympatric speciation , biology , taxon , reproductive isolation , botany , sympatry , genus , understory , inflorescence , zoology , ecology , population , demography , canopy , sociology
Abstract This paper presents an investigation of the chemical composition of the floral scent of eight coflowering, sympatric taxa of Geonoma , a neotropical genus of understory palms with little or no variation in floral characteristics. The objective was to evaluate if floral scent might function as a reproductive isolation mechanism. Floral scent was collected with headspace techniques and the chemical composition analyzed and determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The eight studied taxa each had a characteristic, distinct floral scent composition, as revealed by grouping of individuals of each taxon together in a principal component analysis. As flower morphology and colors, as well as the diurnal flowering phenology, often vary little between sympatric, coflowering plants, other mechanisms to keep the species reproductively isolated are needed. It was concluded that variation in floral scent composition potentially is of importance to keep taxa of Geonoma reproductively isolated.