Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T06:23:36.039Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pollination ecology and circadian patterns of inflorescence opening of the Madagascan climber Dalechampia aff. bernieri (Euphorbiaceae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2014

Marco Plebani ,
Olive Imanizabayo ,
Dennis M. Hansen  and
W. Scott Armbruster
Marco Plebani*
Affiliation:
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057Zurich
Olive Imanizabayo
Affiliation:
Karisoke Research Center, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, 4 Ruhengeri, Rwanda
Dennis M. Hansen
Affiliation:
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057Zurich
W. Scott Armbruster
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, University of Portsmouth, King Henry Building, King Henry I Street, Portsmouth PO1 2DY, UK Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA Department of Biology, NTNU, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway Department of Botany, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
*
1Corresponding author. Email: marcoplebani85@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Floral morphology often directly influences interactions with pollinators, but less is known about the role of extrafloral structures. We studied the relationship between bract motility, floral structural specialization and pollination in Dalechampia aff. bernieri, an endemic Madagascan species with floral structures indicating specialized buzz-pollination. We measured circadian bract angles in 47 inflorescences from 11 plants of D. aff. bernieri; in addition, we recorded any flower-visiting insects observed. The inflorescences had motile bracts with mean angles varying from ~50° at 00h00 to ~90° at 10h45. They were visited by buzz-pollinating Nomia viridilimbata bees (Halictidae), but also by non-buzz-pollinating Liotrigona bees (Apidae). The temporal pattern of bract motility observed in D. aff. bernieri may represent an extra-floral specialization to reduce visitation by non-pollinating visitors while maximizing visitation by diurnal buzz-pollinating bees.

Keywords

bract motilitybuzz-pollinationDalechampiaDalechampia subternatafloral specializationLiotrigonaMadagascarNomia viridilimbatapollination
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 99 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

ARMBRUSTER, W. S. 1993. Evolution of plant pollination systems – hypotheses and tests with the neotropical vine Dalechampia. Evolution 47:1480–1505.Google Scholar
ARMBRUSTER, W. S. & HERZIG, A. 1984. Partitioning and sharing of pollinators by four sympatric species of Dalechampia (Euphorbiaceae) in Panama. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 71:1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ARMBRUSTER, W. S. & MZIRAY, W. 1987. Pollination and herbivore ecology of an African Dalechampia (Euphorbiaceae) – comparisons with new-world species. Biotropica 19:64–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ARMBRUSTER, W. S. & STEINER, K. 1992. Pollination ecology of four Dalechampia species (Euphorbiaceae) in northern Natal, South Africa. American Journal of Botany 79:306–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ARMBRUSTER, W. S., EDWARDS, M., HINES, J., MAHUNNAH, R. & MUNYENYEMBE, P. 1993. Evolution and pollination of Madagascan and African Dalechampia. Research and Exploration 9:460–474.Google Scholar
ARMBRUSTER, W. S., LEE, J., EDWARDS, M. E. & BALDWIN, B. G. 2013. Floral paedomorphy leads to secondary specialization in pollination of Madagascar Dalechampia (Euphorbiaceae). Evolution 67:1196–1203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MUGGEO, V. M. R. 2003. Estimating regression models with unknown break-points. Statistics in Medicine 22:3055–3071.Google Scholar
PAULY, A., BROOKS, R. W., NILSSON, L. A., PESENKO, Y. A., EARDLEY, C. D., TERZO, M., GRISWOLD, T., SCHWARZ, M., PATINY, S., MUNZINGER, J. & BARBIER, Y. 2001. Apoidea, Hymenoptera of Madagascar and neighbouring islands. Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika Tervuren Belgie Annalen Zoologische Wetenschappen 286:1–390.Google Scholar
PÉREZ-BARRALES, R., BOLSTAD, G. H., PELABON, C., HANSEN, T. F. & ARMBRUSTER, W. S. 2013. Pollinators and seed predators generate conflicting selection on Dalechampia inflorescences. Oikos 10:1411–1428.Google Scholar