by Smith-Ramírez C, Rendón-Funes A, Barahona-Segovia RM, Moya W
Photo: A. Rendón-Funes: B. terrestris on top of closed V.
faba flower
after robbing nectar, the hole can be seen in the base of the
flower
Bombus
terrestris is an
invasive species in Chile, and is a frequent visitor of Vicia faba.
During two seasons, we recorded frontal and robbery visits of all pollinators
and its behaviour along the flower lifespan in a V. faba´s field in
southern Chile. We found seven species of floral visitors. The only species
that did flower robbery were B. terrestris and A. mellifera. On average the flower lives 3.1 days. Most of
the visits were done by Apis mellifera, followed by B. terrestris.
87.2% of visits of B. terrestris were robbery and visited on average 23
times one flower perforation in the flower’s life. Frequency of frontal visits
and robbery varied with pollinator identity and year. The seconds spend in
robbery visits decreased more acutely than the time spend in frontal visits
regarding flower´s age. We conclude that B. terrestris contributes
relatively little to pollination and may induce interspecific competition for
nectar.
Read the scientific publication in JPE.
No comments:
Post a Comment