New Zealand Journal of Botany abstract

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^*Author for correspondence
B97081
Received 5 November 1997; accepted 21 May 1998

Can wind pollination provide a selective benefit to mast seeding in Chionochloa macra (Poaceae) at Mt Hutt, New Zealand?

PHILLIP A. TISCH
DAVE KELLY^*

Plant and Microbial Sciences
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch 1, New Zealand

Abstract  Mast seeding, which is very pronounced in Chionochloa (Poaceae) in New Zealand, could provide selective advantages through reduced seed predation or through more efficient wind pollination. The importance of wind pollination in favouring masting was tested experimentally by measuring the pollination success of Chionochloa macra individuals in 10 m x 10 m plots subject to a range of experimentally altered flowering densities within a single season. Very low local flowering densities produced a moderate but non-significant increase in the proportion of unfilled seeds (assumed to represent unsuccessful pollination). This result is consistent with the conclusions from between-year observational studies on Chionochloa pallens that wind pollination makes only a small contribution to any present selective benefit of masting in Chionochloa. However, masting may provide larger benefits from higher seed quality (reduced inbreeding depression) than from seed quantity.

Keywords  Mast seeding; mass flowering; wind pollination; inbreeding depression; predator satiation; economies of scale; Chionochloa; Poaceae

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