Simokat Christina, Ferguson Elizabeth L, Keatly Jessica, Smith Tyler, Lorence Mia, O'Hara Jasmine
California State University, San Marcos San Marcos California USA.
San Diego Pollinator Monitoring Program Encinitas California USA.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Oct 22;14(10):e70327. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70327. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Insects are the major pollination vectors for angiosperms, and insects native to a given habitat can play an irreplaceable ecological role in food webs and plant reproduction. With precipitous declines in insect species over the last decades, it is urgent to document insect assemblages in native plant communities to support conservation efforts. Identifying pollinators and their pollination activity is challenging; however, emerging technological methods are providing new monitoring capabilities. In this study, we compare the accuracy of two different methods of monitoring to assess the flower-visiting insect assemblage and likely pollinators of Encinitas baccharis (): focal observations and video recordings from camera traps. is a rare, endemic species found in Coastal Sage Scrub communities in San Diego County. This federally listed species is threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, which may also be affecting the availability of its insect pollinators. Results indicate that supports and is supported by a variety of flower-visiting insect groups. The diversity of insect visitors at male and female plants were similar across all diversity measurements. The insect vectors identified were as expected given pollination syndrome. This syndrome also aligns with wind as a pollination vector, providing evidence of ambophily. While focal observations underreported insect activity by approximately half, the proportions of common diurnal visitors were similar with both methods. Camera traps were unable to provide sufficient detail to discern visually similar groups, but were able to record nocturnal insect activity, which was dominated by moths (Lepidoptera, 82%). While collection protocol in this study did not record the time an insect spent interacting with a flower, we anecdotally observed moths spent notably longer periods in contact with flowers than most diurnal insects. This study has implications for effective monitoring and conservation of endangered plant species and their affiliated pollinators.
昆虫是被子植物的主要传粉媒介，特定栖息地的本土昆虫在食物网和植物繁殖中发挥着不可替代的生态作用。在过去几十年里，昆虫物种数量急剧下降，因此迫切需要记录本土植物群落中的昆虫群落，以支持保护工作。识别传粉者及其传粉活动具有挑战性；然而，新兴的技术方法正在提供新的监测能力。在本研究中，我们比较了两种不同监测方法的准确性，以评估访问恩西尼塔斯南美酒神菊（Encinitas baccharis）花朵的昆虫群落及可能的传粉者：重点观察和来自相机陷阱的视频记录。恩西尼塔斯南美酒神菊是一种稀有的特有物种，发现于圣地亚哥县的海岸鼠尾草灌丛群落中。这种被联邦政府列为保护的物种受到栖息地丧失和破碎化的威胁，这也可能影响其昆虫传粉者的可获得性。结果表明，恩西尼塔斯南美酒神菊得到多种访花昆虫群体的支持，同时也为这些群体提供支持。在所有多样性测量中，雄株和雌株上的昆虫访客多样性相似。根据恩西尼塔斯南美酒神菊的传粉综合征，所识别出的昆虫传粉者符合预期。这种综合征也与风作为传粉媒介相契合，提供了兼性传粉的证据。虽然重点观察少报告了约一半的昆虫活动，但两种方法所观察到的常见日间访客比例相似。相机陷阱无法提供足够细节以区分视觉上相似的群体，但能够记录夜间昆虫活动，夜间活动的昆虫以蛾类为主（鳞翅目，82%）。虽然本研究中的采集方案没有记录昆虫与花朵互动的时间，但我们凭经验观察到，蛾类与花朵接触的时间明显比大多数日间昆虫长。本研究对有效监测和保护濒危植物物种及其相关传粉者具有启示意义。
