Reproductive consequences of flower damage in two contrasting habitats: The case of Viola portalesia (Violaceae) in Chile

Abstract

The indirect impact of flower herbivory on plant reproduction depends on the pollination environment, particularly on the presence or absence of pollinator species with the ability to discriminate damaged from undamaged flowers. The change in pollinator assemblages, due to habitat modification, may modify the impact of flower herbivory on plant reproductive success. In this work, we evaluate the effect of flower herbivory on the seed production of Viola portalesia (Gay) in two contrasting environments, a native and low-disturbed habitat and an extensively transformed habitat characterized by Pinus radiata plantations. Even though the two habitats differed substantially in the composition of pollinator assemblages and visitation rate, the flower damage performed on different petals had no impact on seed production neither within nor between habitats, indicating that change in pollinator assemblages have no indirect reproductive impact via discrimination of damaged flowers. There was a strong habitat effect, however, for seed production, being higher in the pine plantation than in the native habitat. Seed production on a per flower basis increased at a higher rate with the number of flowers in the pine plantation, which suggests a numerical response of pollinators to changes in food availability in this habitat. © Sociedad de Biología de Chile.