Benelli Giovanni, Benvenuti Stefano, Desneux Nicolas, Canale Angelo
Insect Behaviour Group, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Agronomy and Agro-ecosystem Management Section, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
PLoS One. 2014 Mar 27;9(3):e93153. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093153. eCollection 2014.
The introduction of sown wildflower strips favours the establishment of pollinator communities, with special reference to social Apoidea. Here, we evaluated the late summer flowering Cephalaria transsylvanica as suitable species for strips providing food for pollinators in paucity periods. C. transsylvanica showed no particular requirements in terms of seed germination and growth during summer. This plant had an excellent potential of self-seeding and competitiveness towards weed competitors. C. transsylvanica prevented from entomophilous pollination showed inbreeding depression, with a decrease in seed-set and accumulation of seed energy reserves. However, C. transsylvanica did not appear to be vulnerable in terms of pollination biology since it had a wide range of pollinators including bees, hoverflies and Lepidoptera. C. transsylvanica was visited mainly by honeybees and bumblebees and these latter pollinators increased their visits on C. transsylvanica flowers during early autumn. This plant may be useful as an abundant source of pollen during food paucity periods, such as autumn. We proposed C. transsylvanica for incorporation into flower strips to be planted in non-cropped farmlands in intensively managed agricultural areas as well as in proximity of beehives. The latter option may facilitate the honeybees collecting pollen and nectar for the colony, thereby ensuring robustness to overcome the winter season.
播种野花带的引入有利于传粉者群落的建立，特别是社会性蜂类。在此，我们评估了夏末开花的特兰西瓦尼亚风铃草（Cephalaria transsylvanica）作为在食物匮乏期为传粉者提供食物的花带适宜物种的情况。特兰西瓦尼亚风铃草在种子萌发和夏季生长方面没有特殊要求。这种植物具有很强的自我播种能力和对杂草竞争者的竞争力。阻止虫媒传粉的特兰西瓦尼亚风铃草表现出近亲繁殖衰退，结实率降低且种子能量储备积累减少。然而，特兰西瓦尼亚风铃草在传粉生物学方面似乎并不脆弱，因为它有广泛的传粉者群体，包括蜜蜂、食蚜蝇和鳞翅目昆虫。访问特兰西瓦尼亚风铃草的主要是蜜蜂和熊蜂，且这些传粉者在初秋增加了对其花朵的访问次数。这种植物在食物匮乏期（如秋季）可作为丰富的花粉来源。我们建议将特兰西瓦尼亚风铃草纳入花带，种植在集约化管理农业区的非耕地以及蜂箱附近。后一种选择可能便于蜜蜂为蜂群采集花粉和花蜜，从而确保其强健度以度过冬季。
