Sundry sonication: bee diversity across three buzz-pollinated Melastomataceae communities.
- Author(s)
- Ashlee Kerber, Benjamin Lazarus, Agnes Dellinger
- Abstract
In the plant family Melastomataceae, more than 5,000 species have evolved stamens with poricidal anthersthat necessitate a functionally specialized interaction with pollinators in order to release pollen: buzz-pollina-tion. Bees are the only group of pollinators capable ofapplying vibrations of the required frequency, amplitude and duration to flowers so that pollen is expelled in clouds from the stamens. However, not all bees arecapable of sonicating flowers, but at least 74 recognized genera are. How these bees ration floral resources is unclear. It is possible that bee size and morphology may influence the frequency and amplitude of their vibrations. In this poster, we aim to explore whether buzz pollinating bees share or partition floral resources across three communities of coflowering Melastomataceae. Through observational studies, video data and field experiments, we measure pollinator composition,behavior, and visitation rates across three different ecosystems in the campo rupestre of Brazil, the cloudforests of Ecuador and the pine savannas of Florida, USA. While we see substantial pollinator overlap in the Melastomataceae community in Florida, certain beebehaviors indicate pollination niche partitioning and specialization in the tropical communities. Some of our data suggests that larger bees visit larger flowers while smaller bees may be less picky about flower size. By investigating the pollinator composition of distinct Melastomataceae communities with different floral phenotypes, we hope to contribute to a more realistic understanding of the evolutionary processes underlying the diversification of flower phenotypes sharing the same functionally specialized pollination strategy.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
- External organisation(s)
- University of Colorado, Boulder
- Pages
- 707
- Publication date
- 2024
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106008 Botany, 106042 Systematic botany, 106012 Evolutionary research
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/2bd013df-62a4-4812-b576-82eabe5ae2d7