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 significantly (P ≤ 0.206) and remained below 12%. However, total capture rates increased linearly with wind speed and atmospheric pollen density. Because theoretical models of capture efficiency predict the E(r) to increase to ∼80% asymptotically, our findings suggest that receptive megastrobili are equally adept at capturing pollen at all naturally occurring wind speeds.