[Pollinator] Extreme Reproduction and Survival of a True Cliffhanger: The Endangered Plant Borderea chouardii (Dioscoreaceae)

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

One of the longest lived plants species, a critically endangered, 
long-lived vine with ant pollinators!

Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist, Division of Scientific Authority-US Fish & Wildlife 
Service-International Affairs
Chair, Medicinal Plant Working Group-Plant Conservation Alliance
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 110
Arlington, VA  22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276

Promoting sustainable use and conservation of our native medicinal plants. 

<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>

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García MB, Espadaler X, Olesen JM (2012) Extreme Reproduction and Survival 
of a True Cliffhanger: The Endangered Plant Borderea chouardii 
(Dioscoreaceae). PLoS ONE 7(9): e44657. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044657

Extreme Reproduction and Survival of a True Cliffhanger: The Endangered 
Plant Borderea chouardii (Dioscoreaceae)

ABSTRACT: Cliff sides are extreme habitats, often sheltering a rich and 
unique flora. One example is the dioecious herb Borderea chouardii 
(Dioscoreaceae), which is a Tertiary, tropical relict, occurring only on 
two adjacent vertical cliffs in the world. We studied its reproductive 
biology, which in some aspects is extreme, especially the unusual double 
mutualistic role of ants as both pollinators and dispersers. We made a 
2-year pollination census and four years of seed-dispersal experiments, 
recording flower visitors and dispersal rates. Fruit and seed set, 
self-sowing of seeds, seedling recruitment, and fate of seedlings from 
seeds sowed by different agents were scored over a period of 17 years. The 
ants Lasius grandis and L. cinereus were the main pollinators, whereas 
another ant Pheidole pallidula dispersed seeds. Thus ants functioned as 
double mutualists. Two thirds of all new seedlings came from self-sown 
seeds, and 1/3 was dispersed by ants, which gathered the seeds with their 
oil-rich elaiosome. Gravity played a minor role to dispersal. Both ant 
dispersal and self-sowing resulted in the same survival rate of seedlings. 
A double mutualism is a risky reproductive strategy, but B. chouardii 
buffers that by an unusual long?term demographic stability (some 
individuals exceed 300 years in lifespan) and its presence in a 
climatically very stable habitat, inaccessible to large herbivores. Such a 
combination of traits and habitat properties may explain the persistence 
of this relict species.

Full article: 
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0044657

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