The Influence of Garden Size and Floral Cover on Pollen Deposition in Urban Community Gardens
Peter A. Werrell, Gail Langellotto, Shannon U. Morath, Kevin C. Matteson
Cities and the Environment
Urban Farm DB summary
A study in New York City community gardens examined how the spatial area dedicated to cucumbers (Cucumis sativus), relative to other flowering plants, influenced the deposition of conspecific and heterospecific pollen on cucumber plants, and also examined the effect of overall garden size on that pollen deposition. Female flowers were collected from potted cucumber plants placed experimentally in the gardens for the study, as well as from cucumbers established in raised beds by community garden members; pollen grains were isolated in the laboratory by acetolysis and the numbers of heterospecific and conspecific pollen grains were quantified. The abstract does not report quantitative results or conclusions.