Brazilian flowers use pollen slingshot to dominate pollination battle

Flower Hypenia macrantha, a species native to Brazil, has been observed using a unique mechanism to outcompete rivals during pollination. According to research, these flowers use a pollen “slingshot” system to increase their chances of successful pollination. The strategy involves launching their pollen rapidly to displace rival pollen from the hummingbirds’ beaks, thereby increasing their reproductive success.

Pollination strategy observed in Brazilian flowers

The flowers exhibit both male and female reproductive phases, switching roles to avoid self-pollination. During their male phase, pollen is produced and stored beneath the petals-covered compartments. When a hummingbird investigates a flower for nectar, a trigger mechanism is activated, forcefully launching the stored pollen. According to ScienceNewsExplores, the process was studied using hummingbird skulls coated with fluorescent particles to simulate natural conditions. report,

High-speed footage of the experiment revealed that the pollen projection effectively removed rival pollen from the simulated beak, replacing it with the flower’s beak. The researchers found that the beaks lost significantly more pollen when entering flowers in the male stage than flowers that had already released their pollen.

Bruce Anderson, an evolutionary ecologist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, told Science News That this mechanism appears to allocate pollen for two different purposes: reproduction and competitive displacement.

a system of flower competition

Evolutionary biologist Rebecca Burch of the State University of New York at Oswego has noted similarities between plant and animal reproductive competition. In comments reported by the research team on Science News, they highlighted that plants exhibit dynamic behaviors that are often underestimated in ecological studies.

Further research is planned to test whether this explosive pollen distribution translates into increased seed production. As noted, these findings contribute to our understanding of how plants evolve strategies to enhance reproductive success in competitive environments.