How does A. titanum do it?

From: "Randy Story" story at caltech.edu> on 2002.09.11 at 22:32:34(9391) Hi, The current discussion on Amorphophallus titanum reminded me of a question I have. This arose during a conversation with a friend while visiting the Huntington's blooming A. titanum a few weeks ago and the situation would of course apply to a lot of other species as well. If during blooming the female flowers are only receptive for about a day, then there must of course be another flower making pollen that is only a day or two ahead for there to be successful pollination. My impression was that A. titanum isn't terribly abundant, plus it blooms only every three years at best, etc. So what are the chances that another plant blooms sufficiently nearby (a couple miles?) at exactly the right time (again within a day or two) so that a given plant is successfully pollinated? A related question is what sort of population density is necessary to keep all of this going? I assume that this must be a serious concern of botanists/ecologists and others trying to keep these plants from going extinct. I'm curious for a sense as to what the magnitude of the problem is. Is the situation so precarious for some species that even fairly minor decreases in population density and or area of distribution can lead to extinction? If so, how many Amorphophallus species have already been lost? The conclusion of the conversation with my friend was that it seemed rather odd that a species (or many) had evolved into such a precarious corner! Randy

From: "Randy Story" story at caltech.edu> on 2002.09.12 at 05:52:27(9397) Ron, I assume you've never been around a durian fruit. People who live in the same part of the world as A. titanum consider durian to be a delicacy and somehow put up with that ungodly stench. There are many, many more durians than there are A. titanums! Around here people associate Spaths with funerals. Randy +More ---------- >From: "Ron Iles" >To: >Subject: Re: [aroid-l] How does A. titanum do it? >Date: Wed, Sep 11, 2002, 9:12 PM > > Is it precarious? Considerr how many hundreds of miles each molecule of > stink can spread. How far off can the pollinating stink flies smell the > molecule stink. Male moths can detect a molecule or so of female phemerone > miles away, so flies maybe could detect these phalloid stinks hundreds of > miles away? So maybe having very sparse Amorphos is not precarious but > considerate to humans? If there was an Amorpho every ten feet, the 'umans > would be breathing flies & most smelling life would get very aggressive & > kill off the too many orrible smelling monstrosities. > > Spathiphyllum do it right, they smell nice & are welcome everywhere & don't > encorage nasty flies. > > Do you reckon that Amorpho & other stinkies are human health hazards with > all those nasty organic chemicals? You really think I'm joking, at least a > few of us are cutting down on the densities of these things around us. > > Signed on behalf of the Irish Pet Spath Company & Amorpho Abolition Society > . > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Randy Story" > To: "AROID-L" > Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 11:32 PM > Subject: [aroid-l] How does A. titanum do it? > > > Hi, > > The current discussion on Amorphophallus titanum reminded me of a question I > have. This arose during a conversation with a friend while visiting the > Huntington's blooming A. titanum a few weeks ago and the situation would of > course apply to a lot of other species as well. > > If during blooming the female flowers are only receptive for about a day, > then there must of course be another flower making pollen that is only a day > or two ahead for there to be successful pollination. My impression was that > A. titanum isn't terribly abundant, plus it blooms only every three years at > best, etc. So what are the chances that another plant blooms sufficiently > nearby (a couple miles?) at exactly the right time (again within a day or > two) so that a given plant is successfully pollinated? A related question > is what sort of population density is necessary to keep all of this going? > I assume that this must be a serious concern of botanists/ecologists and > others trying to keep these plants from going extinct. I'm curious for a > sense as to what the magnitude of the problem is. Is the situation so > precarious for some species that even fairly minor decreases in population > density and or area of distribution can lead to extinction? If so, how many > Amorphophallus species have already been lost? > > The conclusion of the conversation with my friend was that it seemed rather > odd that a species (or many) had evolved into such a precarious corner! > > Randy > > > >

From: "Craig Allen" callen at fairchildgarden.org> on 2002.09.12 at 22:54:14(9402) Of course, until man came along Amorphophallus titanums existence wasn't precarious. Craig M. Allen +More -----Original Message----- [mailto:aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu]On Behalf Of Randy Story Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 6:33 PM To: AROID-L Subject: [aroid-l] How does A. titanum do it? Hi, The current discussion on Amorphophallus titanum reminded me of a question I have. This arose during a conversation with a friend while visiting the Huntington's blooming A. titanum a few weeks ago and the situation would of course apply to a lot of other species as well. If during blooming the female flowers are only receptive for about a day, then there must of course be another flower making pollen that is only a day or two ahead for there to be successful pollination. My impression was that A. titanum isn't terribly abundant, plus it blooms only every three years at best, etc. So what are the chances that another plant blooms sufficiently nearby (a couple miles?) at exactly the right time (again within a day or two) so that a given plant is successfully pollinated? A related question is what sort of population density is necessary to keep all of this going? I assume that this must be a serious concern of botanists/ecologists and others trying to keep these plants from going extinct. I'm curious for a sense as to what the magnitude of the problem is. Is the situation so precarious for some species that even fairly minor decreases in population density and or area of distribution can lead to extinction? If so, how many Amorphophallus species have already been lost? The conclusion of the conversation with my friend was that it seemed rather odd that a species (or many) had evolved into such a precarious corner! Randy

From: MossyTrail at cs.com on 2002.09.13 at 03:30:49(9403) In a message dated 9/12/2002 7:22:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time, callen@fairchildgarden.org writes: > The conclusion of the conversation with my friend was that it seemed rather +More > odd that a species (or many) had evolved into such a precarious corner! > In a stable environment, they can get away with it. Once it destabilizes, they find themselves a dead end. Usually generalists, not specialists, are the founders of the great evolutionary radiations. In the absence of large-scale disturbance (including human activity), each plant need only replace itself, producing one surviving offspring in the course of its life. In the presence of such disturbance, when part of the population is destroyed, then those species with higher reproductive rates flourish (i.e., each plant surviving the upheaval replaces both itself and one or more of those lost). Jason Hernandez Naturalist-at-Large

From: "Wilbert Hetterscheid" hetter at worldonline.nl> on 2002.09.13 at 15:59:46(9411) I think it is time for a short run-down on Amorphophallus titanum ecology. It IS a plant of quite heavily disturbed areas with well-developed secondary forest. It lives often in quite discernable populations in old Hevea plantations with secondary forest in between the Heveas. Then again, seemingly totally isolated plants also occur. I guess that with molecules being detected by insects over enormous distances, finding out where a titanum flowers is not that much of a problem for the right insect. We found several titanum inflorescences in the same general area in different stages of maturing or dying, so cross-pollinations would certainly have been possible. +More Generally Amorphs are members of disturbed systems. Even as pioneers when they are found in very open and recent plantations in deforested areas. Their usual ecology is slopes and slopes are notorious for their unbalanced ecology. They do like extra light and mostly do not thrive in dense forest. Wilbert, lord etc., etc. > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu > [mailto:aroid-l-owner@lists.ncsu.edu]Namens MossyTrail@cs.com > Verzonden: vrijdag 13 september 2002 5:31 > Aan: aroid-l@lists.ncsu.edu > Onderwerp: Re: [aroid-l] How does A. titanum do it? > > > In a message dated 9/12/2002 7:22:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time, > callen@fairchildgarden.org writes: > > > > The conclusion of the conversation with my friend was that > it seemed rather > > odd that a species (or many) had evolved into such a > precarious corner! > > > > In a stable environment, they can get away with it. Once it > destabilizes, > they find themselves a dead end. Usually generalists, not > specialists, are > the founders of the great evolutionary radiations. > > In the absence of large-scale disturbance (including human > activity), each > plant need only replace itself, producing one surviving > offspring in the > course of its life. In the presence of such disturbance, > when part of the > population is destroyed, then those species with higher > reproductive rates > flourish (i.e., each plant surviving the upheaval replaces > both itself and > one or more of those lost). > > Jason Hernandez > Naturalist-at-Large

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