How accessible are receptive megastrobili to pollen? the example of jack pine ( Pinus banksiana )

We examined the effects of wind speeds on pollen capture by megastrobili of jack pine ( Pinus banksiana ). We found that, when wind speed increased from 1.3 to 7.5 m/s, the relative capture efficiency ( E r ) did not change significantly ( P ≤ 0.206) and remained below 12%. However, total capture rates increased linearly with wind speed and atmospheric pollen density. Because theoretical models of capture efficiency predict the E r to increase to ∼80% asymptotically, our findings suggest that receptive megastrobili are equally adept at capturing pollen at all naturally occurring wind speeds.