Esposito Fabiana, Costa Ricardo, Boieiro Mário
Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal.
Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Azorean Biodiversity Group, University of Azores, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal.
Insects. 2021 May 24;12(6):488. doi: 10.3390/insects12060488.
The study of flower visitor behavior and pollen transport dynamics within and between plants can be of great importance, especially for threatened or rare plant species. In this work, we aim to assess the flower visitor assemblage of the Madeiran endemic and evaluate the performance of the most common visitors through the analysis of their foraging behavior and pollen loads. The flower visitor assemblage of is diverse, including several insect groups and the endemic lizard , but bees are the most common visitors. In general, large bees (, , and spp.) had the highest average visitation rates (>18 flowers/min) and their pollen loads had higher percentages of homospecific pollen (>66%) when compared with butterflies and hoverflies. The honeybee () and two bumblebees ( and ) were the most efficient flower visitors of , but their foraging behavior seems to favor geitonogamy. Other visitors, such as butterflies and the small bee , may have a complementary role to the honeybee and bumblebee species, as their high mobility is associated with fewer flower visits on each plant and may promote xenogamy. Two non-native bees ( and ) are important flower visitors of and may contribute mostly to self-pollination rendering the endemic plant more vulnerable to inbreeding effects.
研究植物内部和植物之间的访花者行为及花粉传播动态可能具有重要意义，特别是对于受威胁或珍稀的植物物种而言。在这项工作中，我们旨在评估马德拉群岛特有植物的访花者群落，并通过分析其觅食行为和花粉负载来评估最常见访花者的表现。该植物的访花者群落多样，包括几个昆虫类群以及特有蜥蜴，但蜜蜂是最常见的访花者。一般来说，大型蜜蜂（如某些熊蜂属、切叶蜂属和隧蜂属物种）的平均访花率最高（>18朵花/分钟），与蝴蝶和食蚜蝇相比，它们的花粉负载中同种花粉的百分比更高（>66%）。蜜蜂（意大利蜜蜂）和两种熊蜂（西方熊蜂和红足熊蜂）是该植物最有效的访花者，但它们的觅食行为似乎有利于同株异花授粉。其他访花者，如蝴蝶和小型蜜蜂（小蜜蜂），可能对蜜蜂和熊蜂物种起到补充作用，因为它们的高移动性与每株植物上较少的访花次数相关，可能促进异花授粉。两种非本地蜜蜂（苜蓿切叶蜂和长足隧蜂）是该植物重要的访花者，可能主要促成自花授粉，使这种特有植物更容易受到近亲繁殖效应的影响。
