Photoperiodic induction of synchronous flowering near the Equator

In tropical rainforests, 30-65% of tree species grow at densities of less than one individual per hectare. At these low population densities, successful cross-pollination relies on synchronous flowering. In rainforests with low climatic seasonality, photoperiodic control is the only reliable mechani...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nature Vol. 433; no. 7026; pp. 627 - 629
Main Authors:	Calle, Zoraida, Gautier, Laurent, von Hildebrand, Patricio, Tye, Alan, Navarrete, Diego, Spichiger, Rodolphe, Borchert, Rolf, Renner, Susanne S
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing 10-02-2005 Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:	Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Biological and medical sciences Botany Colombia Costa Rica Flowers - physiology Flowers - radiation effects Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Geography Melastomataceae - physiology Melastomataceae - radiation effects Montanoa - physiology Montanoa - radiation effects Photocatalysis Photoperiod Plant species Population density Rainforests Reproduction - physiology Reproduction - radiation effects Seasonal variations Seasons Sunlight Synecology Terrestrial ecosystems Time Factors Trees - physiology Trees - radiation effects Tropical Climate Colombia Costa Rica Tropical rain forest Outbreeding Compositae Sexual reproduction Synchronous Dicotyledones Angiospermae Flowering Spermatophyta Equatorial zone Population density Adaptation Photoperiodism
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Summary:	In tropical rainforests, 30-65% of tree species grow at densities of less than one individual per hectare. At these low population densities, successful cross-pollination relies on synchronous flowering. In rainforests with low climatic seasonality, photoperiodic control is the only reliable mechanism for inducing synchronous flowering. This poses a problem because there is no variation in day length at the Equator. Here we propose a new mechanism of photoperiodic timekeeping based on the perception of variation in sunrise or sunset time, which explains and predicts the annually repeated, staggered, synchronous and bimodal flowering of many tree species in Amazonian rainforests near the Equator.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0028-0836 1476-4687
DOI:	10.1038/nature03259