Dynamics of pollination: A model of insect-mediated pollen transfer in self-incompatible plants

Abstract

A theoretical model of pollination that analyses the amount of geitonogamous pollen transfer among a group of plants is presented. We study how pollen transfer is affected by different round trips described by a pollinator, taking into account the fraction geitonogamy and the fraction pollen export in self-incompatible plant species. Deterministic and stochastic models of pollen transfer are developed, from which we find that when pollinators describe a uniform sequence (i.e. visit the same number of flowers in each plant), individuals receive maximum outcross pollen or minimum self pollen. Thus, from the point of view of group fitness, the optimal number of flowers visited in each plant depends on the number of flowers on the plant, the length of the foraging bout, and the number of plants in the population. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.