High frequency of ambophily in a Brazilian campos de altitude

Ambophily, an intriguing pollination system in which plant species present adaptations to both biotic and abiotic pollination, has been scarcely reported. Most studies have been conducted with a single or few related species from wind-pollinated genera. We here assess for the first time the frequency of ambophily at the community level.

We evaluated pollen carried by wind in 63 animal-pollinated species from a Brazilian campos de altitude. For those with pollen carried by wind, we evaluated the contribution of wind and animals to seed production with controlled pollination experiments, as well as floral traits and floral visitor assemblages.

Pollen of 23 species was carried by wind (~37 %). Animals and wind contributed to the reproduction of seven species (~11 %), including one pollinated by hummingbirds, large bees and wind. These seven ambophilous species presented unrestrictive floral morphologies and generalist pollination.

We found a high frequency of ambophily in a single community (11 %), which represented an increment of ~5 % of species relative to all ambophilous species reported in the literature so far. Investigating pollen transport by wind in zoophilous species combined with controlled experiments helped detect ambophily in species that are usually ignored in wind pollination studies. Our results showed that putative zoophilous species may actually be ambophilous, suggesting that the selective pressures towards ambophily also occur in zoophilous lineages.