Abstract
Pollination in the genus Arum appears to be in general a complex deceptive pollination process. The genus Arum is composed of 28 species, all belonging to the subgenus Arum, except A. pictum, the only species of the subgenus Gymnomesium, which is basal and sister to all other Arum species. The aim of this paper is to document the pollination ecology of the insular Arum pictum, the only Arum species to flower in autumn, on the island of Corsica (France). The anthesis cycle of A. pictum occurs during the day, attracting sphaerocerid flies and staphylinid beetles early in the morning and late in the afternoon of the first day. The pollen is released from the anthers early in the morning of the second day before the departure of the insects. Its thermogenic cycle matches the anthesis cycle with an original and unique, bimodal temperature pattern of the appendix (morning and afternoon), contrary to the unimodal pattern found in all other studied Arum species. Data from reproductive success and seed sets suggest that sexual reproduction in this species is limited by pollen (e.g. attracting lured insects) rather than by resources. The biology of this Western Mediterranean species appears to be different from other Western European Arum and close to some Eastern Mediterranean species. Further studies are needed to establish whether Arum pictum represents some ancestral stage or whether its peculiar biological traits are adapted to its insular distribution.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albre J, Gibernau M (2008) Reproductive biology of Arum italicum (Araceae) in the south of France. Bot J Linn Soc 154:43–49
Albre J, Quilichini A, Gibernau M (2003) Pollination ecology of Arum italicum (Araceae). Bot J Linn Soc 141:205–214
Arcangeli G (1883) Sull’impollinazione in alcune Araceae. Nuov Giorn Bot Ital 15:72–97
Arcangeli G (1886) Osservazioni sulla fioritura dell’ Arum pictum L. Ric Lav Instit Bot Real Univ Pisa 1:108–109
Beck I (1983) Blütenökologische Untersuchungen am Aronstab (Arum maculatum L.). Unpub Thesis, University of Tübingen, Germany
Bermadinger-Stabentheiner E, Stabentheiner A (1995) Dynamics of thermogenesis and structure of epidermal tissues in inflorescences of Arum maculatum. New Phytol 131:41–50
Boyce P (1993) The genus Arum. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London
Boyce P (2006) Arum: a decade of change. Aroideana 29:132–137
Boyce P (2008) A taxonomic revision of Biarum. Curtis’s Bot Mag 25:2–118
Braverman Y, Koach Y (1982) Culicoides species found in the inflorescences of Arum elongatum in Israel. Mosquito News 42:516–517
Diaz A, Kite GC (2002) A comparison of the pollination ecology of Arum maculatum and A. italicum in England. Watsonia 24:171–181
Diaz A, Kite GC (2006) Why be a rewarding trap? The evolution of floral rewards in Arum (Araceae), a genus characterized by saprophilous pollination systems. Biol J Linn Soc 88:257–268
Drummond DC, Hammond PM (1991) Insects visiting Arum dioscoridis Sm. and A. orientale M. Bieb. Entomol Month Mag 127:151–156
Drummond DC, Hammond PM (1993) Insects visiting Arum creticum Boiss. & Heldr., A. concinnatum Schott and A. purpureospathum Boyce. Entomol Month Mag 129:245–251
Gibernau M, Macquart D, Przetak G (2004) Pollination in the genus Arum–a review. Aroideana 27:148–166
Givnish TJ, Millam KC, Mast AR, Paterson TB, Theim TJ, Hipp AL, Henss JM, Smith JF, Wood KR, Sytsma KJ (2009) Origin, adaptive radiation and diversification of the Hawaiian lobeliads (Asterales: Campanulaceae). Proc R Soc B 276:407–416
Jersakova J, Johnson SD, Kindlmann P (2006) Mechanisms and evolution of deceptive pollination in orchids. Biol Rev 81:219–235
Kite GC (1995) The floral odour of Arum maculatum. Bioch Syst Ecol 23:343–354
Kite GC, Hetterrscheid WLA, Lewis MJ, Boyce PC, Ollerton L, Cocklin E, Diaz A, Simmonds MSJ (1998) Inflorescence odours and pollinators of Arum and Amorphophallus (Araceae). In: Owens SJ, Rudall PJ (eds) Reproductive biology. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, pp 295–315
Knoll F (1926) Die Arum-Blütenstände and ihre Besucher (Insekten und Blumen IV). Abhandl Zool-bot Gesellschaft Wien 12:381–481
Kullenberg B (1953) Observationer över Arum-pollinerare i Libanons kustomade. Sv Bot Tidskr 47:24–29
Lack AJ, Diaz A (1991) The pollination of Arum maculatum L.—a historical review and new observations. Watsonia 18:333–342
Mansion G, Rosenblaum G, Schoenenberger N, Bacchetta G, Rossello JA, Conti E (2008) Phylogenetic analysis informed by geological history supports multiple, sequential invasions of the Mediterranean basin by the Angiosperm family Araceae. Syst Biol 57:269–285
Méndez M, Obeso JR (1992) Influencia del osmoforo en la produccion de infrutescencias en Arum italicum Miller (Araceae). Anales Jard Bot Madrid 50:229–237
Micheneau C, Fournel J, Gauvin-Bialecki A, Pailler T (2008) Auto-pollination in a long-spurred endemic orchid (Jumellea stenophylla) on Reunion Island (Mascarene Archipelago, Indian Ocean). Plant Syst Evol 272:11–22
Mortensen HS, Dupont YL, Olesen JM (2008) A snake in paradise: disturbance of plant reproduction following extirpation of bird flower-visitors on Guam. Biol Conserv 141:2146–2154
Ollerton J, Diaz A (1999) Evidence for stabilising selection acting on flowering time in Arum maculatum (Araceae): the influence of phylogeny on adaptation. Oecologia 113:340–348
Ollerton J, Cranmer L, Stelzer RJ, Sullivan S, Chittka L (2009) Bird pollination of Canary Island endemic plants. Naturwissenschaften 96:221–232
Pereira MJ (2008) Reproductive biology of Vaccinium cylindraceum (Ericaceae), an endemic species of the Azores archipelago. Botany 86:359–366
Prime CT (1960) Lords and ladies. Harper Collins, London
Proctor M, Yeo P, Lack A (1996) The natural history of pollination. Harper Collins, London
Renner SS (2006) Rewardless flowers in the Angiosperms and the role of insect cognition in their evolution. In: Waser NM, Ollerton J (eds) Plant–pollinator interactions: from specialization to generalization. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 123–144
Ricklefs R, Bermingham E (2008) The West Indies as a laboratory of biogeography and evolution. Phil Trans R Soc B 363:2393–2413
Seymour RS, Schultze-Motel P (1999) Respiration, temperature regulation and energetics of thermogenic inflorescences of the dragon lily Dracunculus vulgaris (Araceae). Proc R Soc B 266:1975–1983
Seymour RS, Gibernau M, Ito K (2003) Thermogenesis and respiration of inflorescences of the dead horse lily Helicodiceros muscivorus, a pseudo-thermoregulatory aroid associated with fly pollination. Funct Ecol 17:886–894
Seymour RS, Gibernau M, Pirintsos SA (2009) Thermogenesis of three species of Arum from Crete. Plant Cell Env 32:1467–1476
Systat 11 (2004) Systat for Windows statistics, overview. Systat, Evanston, IL
Thompson JD (2005) Plant evolution in the Mediterranean. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Uemura S, Ohkawara K, Kudo G, Wada N, Higashi S (1993) Heat-production and cross-pollination of the Asian skunk cabbage Symplocarpus renifolius (Araceae). Am J Bot 80:635–640
Vaillant F (1978) Psychodidae. In: Illies J (ed) Limnofauna Europaea. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, pp 378–385
Young HJ (1986) Beetle pollination of Dieffenbachia longispatha (Araceae). Am J Bot 73:931–944
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Paul and Jacky Quilichini for their great hospitality in Eccica during our stays in Corsica. We would also like to thank Dr. Rohacek (Opava, Czech Republic) for identification of the sphaerocerid flies and Jean-Marie Bessière (Montpellier, France) for identification of the volatile compounds. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for improving the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Quilichini, A., Macquart, D., Barabé, D. et al. Reproduction of the West Mediterranean endemic Arum pictum (Araceae) on Corsica. Plant Syst Evol 287, 179–187 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-010-0312-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-010-0312-3