Floral Morphology, Phenology and Pollination in the Wet Tropics

Abstract

The reproductive ecology of most flowering plant species is a complex response to evolutionary processes that exist between a plant and its visitor array (Wyatt 1983; Dukas 2001), phylogenetic constraints (Johnson & Steiner 2000), phenotypic plasticity (Rathcke and Lacey 1985; Miller & Diggle 2003) and how these factors may have changed over its evolutionary history (Feinsinger 1983). Ultimately these are expressed in the form of flower morphology, flowering phenology and the attraction of associated flower visitors. A plant's fitness depends upon its reproductive success, particularly in allogamous matings; thus pollination becomes of paramount importance within the wider field of floral biology.