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| skipper on Polygala paucifolia |
Accurate records of floral
visitors are critical for understanding pollination, but difficult to observe directly.
Pollination events are often fleeting, occurring in a few seconds or less making
them easy to miss. Visits can also occur in pulses, making it difficult to track
all visitors at once and they can occur over long time intervals, making continuous
direct observation problematic. We report an inexpensive, portable time‐ lapse camera,
which can record floral visitors over the full blooming time of a flower providing
a near‐complete record of floral visitors. Using a camera also allows collecting
data while minimizing observer interference. We tested this camera system on thirty
different species to demonstrate its utility on flowers and inflorescences of many
different shapes and sizes.
