MacIvor James Scott, Roberto Adriano N, Sodhi Darwin S, Onuferko Thomas M, Cadotte Marc W
Department of Biological Sciences University of Toronto Scarborough Toronto ON Canada.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Toronto Toronto ON Canada.
Ecol Evol. 2017 Sep 10;7(20):8456-8462. doi: 10.1002/ece3.3394. eCollection 2017 Oct.
In eastern North America, the field milkweed, L. (Asclepiadaceae), is used in planting schemes to promote biodiversity conservation for numerous insects including the endangered monarch butterfly, (Linnaeus) (Nymphalidae). Less is known about its pollinators, and especially in urban habitats where it is planted often despite being under increasing pressure from invasive plant species, such as the related milkweed, the dog-strangling vine (DSV), (Kleopow) Barbar. (Asclepiadaceae). During the flowering period in July 2016, we surveyed bees in open habitats along a DSV invasion gradient and inspected 433 individuals of 25 bee species in 12 genera for pollinia: these were affixed to bees that visited for nectar and contain pollen packets that are vectored (e.g., transferred) between flowers. Of all bees sampled, pollinia were found only on the nonindigenous honeybee, (43% of all bees identified), as well as one individual bumblebee, Cresson. Pollinia were recorded from 45.2% of all honeybees collected. We found no relationship between biomass of DSV and biomass of per site. There was a significant positive correlation between biomass and the number of pollinia, and the proportion vectored. No relationship with DSV biomass was detected for the number of pollinia collected by bees but the proportion of vectored pollinia declined with increasing DSV biomass. Although we find no evidence of DSV flowers attracting potential pollinators away from and other flowering plants, the impacts on native plant-pollinator mutualisms relate to its ability to outcompete native plants. As wild bees do not appear to visit DSV flowers, it could be altering the landscape to one which honeybees are more tolerant than native wild bees.
在北美东部,田野马利筋(萝藦科马利筋属)被用于种植计划中,以促进包括濒危帝王蝶(蛱蝶科黑脉金斑蝶)在内的众多昆虫的生物多样性保护。人们对其传粉者了解较少,尤其是在城市栖息地,尽管它受到入侵植物物种(如相关的马利筋——缠绕马利筋)不断增加的压力,但仍经常被种植。在2016年7月的花期,我们沿着缠绕马利筋入侵梯度对开阔栖息地的蜜蜂进行了调查,并检查了12个属的25种蜜蜂中的433只个体是否带有花粉块:花粉块附着在前来采食花蜜的蜜蜂身上,包含在花朵之间传播(如转移)的花粉包。在所有采样的蜜蜂中,仅在非本土的蜜蜂(占所有鉴定出的蜜蜂的43%)以及一只熊蜂个体(克氏熊蜂)身上发现了花粉块。在所有采集的蜜蜂中,45.2%的蜜蜂身上记录到了花粉块。我们发现每个地点缠绕马利筋的生物量与田野马利筋的生物量之间没有关系。田野马利筋的生物量与花粉块数量以及传播的比例之间存在显著的正相关。未检测到蜜蜂采集的花粉块数量与缠绕马利筋生物量之间的关系,但传播的花粉块比例随着缠绕马利筋生物量的增加而下降。尽管我们没有发现缠绕马利筋花朵吸引潜在传粉者远离田野马利筋和其他开花植物的证据,但其对本地植物 - 传粉者共生关系的影响与其胜过本地植物的能力有关。由于野生蜜蜂似乎不会访问缠绕马利筋的花朵,它可能正在将景观改变为蜜蜂比本地野生蜜蜂更能耐受的景观。