Abstract
The flower scents of 14 palm species were collected in the field in Ecuador and Puerto Rico by head-space adsorption and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Insect visitors were recorded in seven of the species in Ecuador. The floral scent of the different species was dominated by a variety of compounds, e.g., the fatty-acid derived 3-pentanone and the hydrocarbon series dodecane to pentadecane, the benzenoid compound 1,4-dimethoxybenzene, the isoprenoids (E)-ocimene, myrcene, linalool, and (E)-α-farnesene and the nitrogen-containing compound 2-methoxy-sec-butylpyrazine. Rather than mirroring the systematics of the studied palm species, the chemical composition of the floral scent reflected the pollination mode. The scent of beetle-pollinated species was characterized by large amounts of one or a few dominant compounds, whereas fly- and bee-pollinated species contained a mixture of several compounds in smaller total amounts. We suggest that specific scent compounds, as found in the beetle-pollinated species, have evolved as a response to pollinator preferences. The importance of olfactory cues in relation to visual cues is higher in beetle-pollinated species than in species pollinated by flies and bees.
Key words
Floral scent - head-space - GC-MS - palmae - Arecaceae - pollination
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J. T. Knudsen
Chemical Ecology
Botanical Institute
Göteborg University
Box 461
405 30 Göteborg
Sweden
eMail: jette.knudsen@chemecol.gu.se
Section Editor: G. Gottsberger
