3 ms·

Is the same as being pollinated by air currents

kadoban 5y ago
Seems weird that most (all?) modern aquatic plants lost that ability then. Certainly not impossible by any means, but still weird. Does that mean anything, for example did all/most aquatic plants die off and terrestrial plants move back to the water later?
- pvaldes 5y ago
  Aquatic plants have different goals. Most of them are aggressively clonal and flowering is just one possible strategy to compete For underwater pollination, well, we assume that Posidonia is pollinated by water currents but there is an huge number of things that we still don't know about sea ecosystems.
hammock 5y ago
No offense, but I don't believe you. Can you cite a plant that gets pollinated underwater? Or are you suggesting that this ancient plant also pollinated above the water (as in the case of the eelgrass example I provided)?
- pvaldes 5y ago
  Yes, there are plants that are pollinated underwater, of course. You don't need to believe me, just use the bibliography available.
  - hammock 5y ago
    OK your obstinance has led me to research this a bit more and I found an answer, Unfortunately it contradicts your (dubious to me) assertion that truly underwater pollination is facilitated by "water currents." Currents affect pollination on the water's surface, but not underwater. The very, very few plants that are truly pollinated underwater (as opposed to on the water surface) are limited to basically a single genus and here's how it works (it's called hypohydrophily): "The male flowers of Ceratophyllum break and dehisce on the water's surface. Pollen grains sink into the water and come into contact with the stigma, resulting in pollination under water." https://www.vedantu.com/question-answer/write-the-difference-between-epihydrophily-and-class-12-biology-cbse-608aec67a6db6e09479994b3 https://www.vedantu.com/question-answer/write-the-difference... So the pollen sinks straight down onto the female parts of a flower. No currents involved.
    - pvaldes 5y ago
      > I found an answer, Unfortunately it contradicts your (dubious to me) assertion that truly underwater pollination is facilitated by "water currents." > The very, very few plants that are truly pollinated underwater (as opposed to on the water surface) are limited to basically a single genus. This answer is wrong

Seems weird that most (all?) modern aquatic plants lost that ability then. Certainly not impossible by any means, but still weird. Does that mean anything, for example did all/most aquatic plants die off and terrestrial plants move back to the water later?

pvaldes 5y ago
Aquatic plants have different goals. Most of them are aggressively clonal and flowering is just one possible strategy to compete For underwater pollination, well, we assume that Posidonia is pollinated by water currents but there is an huge number of things that we still don't know about sea ecosystems.

hammock 5y ago

No offense, but I don't believe you. Can you cite a plant that gets pollinated underwater? Or are you suggesting that this ancient plant also pollinated above the water (as in the case of the eelgrass example I provided)?

pvaldes 5y ago
Yes, there are plants that are pollinated underwater, of course. You don't need to believe me, just use the bibliography available.
- hammock 5y ago
  OK your obstinance has led me to research this a bit more and I found an answer, Unfortunately it contradicts your (dubious to me) assertion that truly underwater pollination is facilitated by "water currents." Currents affect pollination on the water's surface, but not underwater. The very, very few plants that are truly pollinated underwater (as opposed to on the water surface) are limited to basically a single genus and here's how it works (it's called hypohydrophily): "The male flowers of Ceratophyllum break and dehisce on the water's surface. Pollen grains sink into the water and come into contact with the stigma, resulting in pollination under water." https://www.vedantu.com/question-answer/write-the-difference-between-epihydrophily-and-class-12-biology-cbse-608aec67a6db6e09479994b3 https://www.vedantu.com/question-answer/write-the-difference... So the pollen sinks straight down onto the female parts of a flower. No currents involved.
  - pvaldes 5y ago
    > I found an answer, Unfortunately it contradicts your (dubious to me) assertion that truly underwater pollination is facilitated by "water currents." > The very, very few plants that are truly pollinated underwater (as opposed to on the water surface) are limited to basically a single genus. This answer is wrong