Assessing the risk of stigma clogging in strawberry flowers due to pollinator sharing with oilseed rape

by Lina Herbertsson, Ida Gåvertsson, Björn Klatt, Henrik G. Smith 

Hand pollination of strawberry flowers with dead bees

Strawberry and oilseed rape are two economically important crops, which are pollinated by insects. Because they flower during the same period and attract similar insects, they may impact each other indirectly. We expected that the deposition of oilseed rape pollen on strawberry flowers would prevent strawberry pollen to reach the stigmas, thereby inhibiting pollination.

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Read the scientific publication in JPE.

  

Contrasting pollination efficiency and effectiveness among flower visitors

by Anna Gorenflo et al.

Bombus lapidarius visiting Borago officinalis

Flower visitation is a commonly used parameter to describe pollination performances. However, not all flower visitors transfer pollen, and species differ in the amount of conspecific pollen transferred to stigmas. Quantifying pollination performances of flower visitors is thus needed for identifying appropriate pollinators for agricultural systems, interpreting patterns of specialisation and generalisation, and predicting ecological and economic consequences of pollinator loss or invasions.

We analysed conspecific pollen deposition on stigmas to determine the efficiencies of flower visitors to the plant species Malva sylvestris, Borago officinalis, and Onobrychis viciifolia. 


Read the whole summary in: English or German!
Read the scientific publication in JPE.