How accessible are receptive megastrobili to pollen? The example of jack pine (Pinus banksiana)

We examined the effects of wind speeds on pollen capture by megastrobili of jack pine (Pinus banksiana). We found that, when wind speed increased from 1.3 to 7.5 m/s, the relative capture efficiency (E-r) did not change signi ficantly (P less than or equal to 0.206) and remained below 12%. However, t otal capture rates increased linearly with wind speed and atmospheric polle n density. Because theoretical models of capture efficiency predict the E-r to increase to similar to 80% asymptotically, our findings suggest that re ceptive megastrobili are equally adept at capturing pollen at all naturally occurring wind speeds.