SexRewardsPollinationGrevillea


 * Lab 9 - SEX, REWARDS, AND POLLINATION **

Tim Baccaro Felipe Oyarzun Kerolloss Younan Shumin Chen

Aim: to investigate the qualitative and quantitative data on flower species and floral rewards.

Hypothesis: Because of the small, tightly bound leaves there is only a few examples of small insects retrieving the pollen.

Flower Chosen: // Grevillea sp //.
 * __ Pollination and Fertilisation __**


 * __ Floral Morphology and Visitations __**


 * Figure 1: Mature Grevillea Flower Sample **

Fi**gure 2: Immature Grevillea Flower Samples**

It appears from the flower morphology that only the smallest insects could be able to reach the nectar due to the close attachment of flowers. We suggest that only wind and small animals are the only way it pollinates.

Mean Mature Flower Length (in mm) is 52.19 and Standard Deviation 1.770028
 * __ Variability of Floral Morphology __**
 * **Flower** || Length (in mm) ||
 * 1 || 53 ||
 * 2 || 54.4 ||
 * 3 || 52.8 ||
 * 4 || 50.5 ||
 * 5 || 50.25 ||


 * __ Pollen Morphology __**

As seen in Figure 3, the pollen in the Gevillea is triangular in shape.


 * Figure 3: Pollen of Grevillea under 10x Microscope **

Grevillea pollen is self-fluorescent, as seen when blacklight is applied


 * Figure 4: Pollen of Grevillea under 10x Microscope with Blacklight**


 * Figure 5: Anther of Grevillea under 10x Microscope with Blacklight **

There are approximately 5.46 micro-liters of nectar per flower with sugar content of extracted nectar at approximately 32% brix. Therefore, we can presume that Grevillea attracts bird pollinators due to its large sugar content in the nectar.
 * __ Nectar Characterisation __**