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Abstract

Floral longevity (FL) determines the balance between pollination success and flower maintenance. While a longer floral duration enhances the ability of plants to attract pollinators, it can be detrimental if it negatively affects overall plant fitness. Longer-lived leaves display a positive correlation with their dry mass per unit area, which influences leaf construction costs and physiological functions. However, little is known about the association among FL and floral dry mass per unit area (FMA) and water maintenance traits. We investigated whether increased FL might incur similar costs. Our assessment of 11 species of Paphiopedilum (slipper orchids) considered the impact of FMA and flower water-maintenance characteristics on FL. We found a positive relationship between FL and FMA. Floral longevity showed significant correlations with osmotic potential at the turgor loss and bulk modulus of elasticity but not with FA. Neither the size nor the mass per area was correlated between leaves and flowers, indicating that flower and leaf economic traits evolved independently. Therefore, our findings demonstrate a clear relationship between FL and the capacity to maintain water status in the flower. These economic constraints also indicate that extending the flower life span can have a high physiological cost in Paphiopedilum.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Zhang, F-P and Yang, Y-J and Yang, Q-Y and Zhang, W and Brodribb, TJ and Hao, G-Y and Hu, Hong and Zhang, S-B
Keywords:	floral longevity, floral dry mass per unit area, floral economic traits, floral water maintenance, Paphiopedilum
Journal or Publication Title:	Frontiers in Plant Science
Publisher:	Frontiers Research Foundation
ISSN:	1664-462X
DOI / ID Number:	https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00501
Copyright Information:	Copyright 2017 Zhang, Yang, Yang, Zhang, Brodribb, Hao, Hu and ZhangLicensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Related URLs:	Google Scholar: Brodribb, TJ UTAS Profile: Brodribb, TJ
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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