Reproductive biology of a hummingbird-pollinated Billbergia: light influence on pollinator behaviour and specificity in a Brazilian semi-deciduous forest.

Ornithophily has evolved in parallel several times during evolution of angiosperms. Bird pollination is reported for 65 families, including Bromeliaceae. One of the most diverse bromeliad is Billbergia, which comprises species pollinated mainly by hummingbirds. Based on investigations on flowering phenology, morpho-anatomy, volume and concentration of nectar, pollinators and breeding system, this paper explores the reproductive biology and pollinator specificity of B. distachia in a mesophytic semi-deciduous forest of southeastern Brazil. The results have show that B. distachia is pollinated by a single species of hermit hummingbird, Phaethornis eurynome, which search for nectar produced by a septal nectary, where the secretory tissue is located above the placenta. The species is self-incompatible. The combination of pollinator specificity, due to long corolla tubes that exclude visitation of short-billed hummingbirds, complete self-incompatibility and non-territorial behaviour of pollinators, it is very important to reduce pollen loss and increase gene flow within population. Our results indicate that studies on pollination biology and reproduction are essential to understand the evolutionary history of pollination systems of plants since, at least in Billbergia, variation in the pollinator spectrum has been recorded for different habitats among Brazilian forests. Furthermore, according to our data, foraging of Phaethornis on flowers is independent of air temperature and humidity, while the main factor influencing hummingbird visitation is daylight. Considering current knowledge on climatic parameters influencing hummingbird foraging, pollination and reproductive biology of Neotropical flora and environment of the hermit hummingbird in tropical forests, new insights on plant-pollinator interaction are provided.