INTRODUCTION TO THIS SPECIAL ISSUE ON FLORAL BIOLOGY AND POLLINATION OF NATIVE AND CULTIVATED PLANTS J. Hugo Cota-Sánchez

Abstract

The purpose of this Special Issue is to expose the research projects that past graduate students have conducted as part of the requisites for the completion of a graduate course on Floral Biology and Pollination of Native and Cultivated Plants. This course has been traditionally offered by the Comparative Biology Graduate Program at the Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Paraná, Brazil. The idea of this special issue came about from our experiences as instructors and coordinators of the graduate course but also because we believe that it is worth publishing the high-quality research that our students have been able to put together in relatively short time and under tremendous pressure. Sometimes, weather or unexpected turns forced students to quickly change directions or modify some aspect(s) of the project and prepare for oral presentation and final report.