Flower morphology, phenology and visitor patterns in an alpine community on Mt Olympos, Greece

Flower longevity and duration of pistil receptivity in high mountain plants

“…The length of time a flower is functional may be an important determinant of male and female reproductive success (e.g. Evanhoe and Galloway, 2002;Itagaki and Sakai, 2006;Makrodimos et al, 2008;Rathcke, 2003). In insect pollinated flowers, the probability of efficient pollinator visits increases with longevity, as this increases the amount of own pollen exported and foreign pollen imported (Ashman and Schoen, 1994).…”

Differences in the diversity and composition of the pollinator assemblage of two co-flowering congeneric alpine wallflowers, Erysimum nevadense and E. baeticum

“…Alpine plants have developed several strategies to circumvent this strong pollinator limitation, like selfing, ambophily or increased floral longevity (Arroyo et al, 2006;Bingham and Orthner, 1998;Blionis and Vokou, 2001;Gómez, 2002;Makrodimos et al, 2008). An alternative way to face pollination limitation is to display a generalist pollination system where almost any available flower visitor could act as a legitimate pollinator.…”

Flowering and fruiting phenology of 24 plant species on the north slope of Mt. Qomolangma (Mt. Everest)

“…Qomolangma site, the duration of flowering ranged from 27 to 93 days, averaging at least 47.8 days. This average value is much higher than the 20 days for an alpine community on Mt Olympus, Greece (Makrodimos et al 2008) and the 23 days for a subalpine meadow in British Columbia (Pojar 1974). The duration of the flowering period at the north-facing 5,180 m Mt.…”

“…Similarly, Blionis et al (2001) did not detect any significant relationship between the duration of flowering and elevation. It is possible that duration of flowering is not determined by extrinsic factors, instead, it may be largely due to intrinsic factors (Parrish and Bazzaz 1979) such as 'ecological pollination syndromes' (Makrodimos et al 2008). More research is required to unravel the underlying causes influencing this phenological feature, especially in extremely high alpine environments such as in the region of Mt.…”

“…The onset of flowering is strongly affected by yearly climatic variability, and timing of flowering is sensitive to temperature changes (Makrodimos et al, 2008). Many authors have reported earlier flowering of alpine plants with simulated climate warming treatments (Alatalo and Totland 1997;Henry and Molau 1997;Stenström et al 1997;Suzuki and Kudo 1997;Price and Waser 1998).…”