Floral biology and a pollinator effectiveness test of the diurnal floral visitors of Tabernaemontana undulata Vahl. (Apocynaceae) in the understory of Amazon Rainforest, Brazil

Abstract

(Apocynaceae) in the understory of Amazon Rainforest, Brazil). In this paper we examined the fl oral biology, per-visit eff ectiveness, frequency of visits and relative abundance of the diurnal fl oral visitor taxa of T. undulata (Apocynaceae) at two populations located in the primary forest and in a disturbed area connected to the continuous forest. Its hermaphrodite fl owers show a long and narrow fl oral tube and introrse anthers form a cone around the apex of the style head where the pollen is deposited. Th e stigmatic head has three functional regions, in a complex pollination mechanism favoring cross-pollination. In the pollinator censuses conducted in the primary forest population we registered Eulaema bombiformis. In the disturbed area Euglossa sp. was responsible for visits on T. undulata fl owers. Eulaema bombiformis was not absent in the disturbed area, but preferred to forage on pollen and nectar-rich fl owers of two neighboring fl owering species. In the primary forest, T. undulata was the only fl owering treelet at the end of the dry season. Signifi cant diff erences were not observed regarding the frequency of visits and relative abundance among the diurnal fl ower visitors at both sites. In the per-visit eff ectiveness experiment among fl ower visitors, we observed one fruit produced aft er E. bombiformis' visits. Due to the complex breeding system of T. undulata in that it is characterized by very low fruit production even under natural conditions, an indirect measure of pollinator eff ectiveness is needed in at a future stage of this study in order to clarify the role of these bee species as pollinators of T. undulata.

Butterflies visit more frequently, but bees are better pollinators: the importance of mouthpart dimensions in effective pollen removal and deposition

“…The principal pollinators of A. berteroi in the pine rocklands of south Florida are two native bees; bee pollination (mostly by Euglossine bees) has been previously reported for this family ( Lopes and Machado 1999 ; de Moura et al . 2011 ).…”

Flora of Ferruginous Outcrops Under Climate Change: A Study in the Cangas of Carajás (Eastern Amazon)

“…Some studies analyzed plant species of economic interest pollinated by bees ( Cavalcante et al, 2018 ; Krug et al, 2018 ; Beyerlein et al, 2019 ) or by complex systems involving multiple insects ( Dattilo et al, 2012 ; Campbell et al, 2018 ). A small additional amount of data is available on interactions between plants and pollinators in the region, including bees ( Moura et al, 2011 ; Novais and Absy, 2013 ; Ferreira and Absy, 2017 ; Oliveira et al, 2017 ; Milet-Pinheiro et al, 2018 ), beetles ( Seymour and Matthews, 2006 ; Gottsberger and Webber, 2018 ), moths ( Cruz-Neto et al, 2011 ), wasps ( Nazareno et al, 2007 ), birds ( Vicentini and Fischer, 1999 ), and bats ( Gribel et al, 1999 ). None of the quoted studies analyzed the potential impact of climate change on those interactions.…”