Timing is Everything: An Overview of Phenological Changes to Plants and Their Pollinators

Solga, Michelle J.; Harmon, Jason P.; Ganguli, Amy C.

doi:10.3375/043.034.0213

Cited by 40 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Previous studies have shown that plants alter their growth and phenology under different agricultural contexts (Campbell et al, 2013;Craufurd and Wheeler, 2009;Cresswell, 2000;Solga et al, 2014;Williams and Thomson, 2001), which can present a serious problem during the introduction of an agricultural crop to a novel region. In the present study, although the melon cultivars were not initially developed for cultivation in the Cerrado regions, all the melon cultivars (except the 'Hibrix' cultivar) showed feasibility for production under Cerrado conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Such traits might affect the performance of this horticultural crop by affecting the production and the quality of the fruit. Furthermore, because flower morphology (e.g., flower length, and calyx and corolla width) and phenology are traits that respond to environmental cues (Campbell et al, 2013;Craufurd and Wheeler, 2009;Cresswell, 2000;Solga et al, 2014;Williams and Thomson, 2001), the findings of this study might also assist in assessing the feasibility of commercial production of melon in the Cerrado regions, as the diverse melon cultivars introduced yearly in the market were initially not developed to be cropped under these climatic (e.g., temperature, photoperiod, and precipitation) and biotic (e.g., pollinator richness and pollination efficiency) conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diversity and flower-visiting rates of bee species as potential pollinators of melon (Cucumis melo L.) in the Brazilian Cerrado

Tschoeke

Oliveira

Dalcin

et al. 2015

Scientia Horticulturae

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a b s t r a c tAlthough bees are important pollinators in many ecosystems worldwide, studies on bee diversity and their contribution to pollination of commercial plants in the Brazilian Cerrado (savannah-like biome) are scarce. The Cerrado biome covers approximately 23% of Brazil and is one of the world's most important agricultural frontiers. Here, we conducted field experiments in the Brazilian Cerrado to evaluate the diversity of bees, their foraging behaviors and flower visiting periods, and their potential contribution to the performance of six melon (Cucumis melo L.) cultivars. Five bee species (Apis mellifera, Halictus sp., Plebeia sp., Trigona pallens, and T. spinipes) were recorded visiting both male and hermaphrodite flower types of all C. melo cultivars. Whereas A. mellifera showed two peaks of flower visitation (an intense first one between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. and a second less intense one after 4:00 p.m.), all other bee species visited the C. melo flowers only in the morning, with intensities and visitation peaks similar to those of A. mellifera. All of these bees collected nectar and pollen. Our results also indicated a moderate correlation between the intensity of bee visitation and fruit weight, demonstrating that all of these bees had the potential to pollinate C. melo and to influence its productivity. Except for the cultivar 'Hibrix', all the other cultivars showed economic feasibility and produced fruits of marketable sizes, with an estimated yield (over 25 tons/ha) in the range registered in other Brazilian regions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and flower-visiting rates of bee species as potential pollinators of melon (Cucumis melo L.) in the Brazilian Cerrado

Tschoeke

Oliveira

Dalcin

et al. 2015

Scientia Horticulturae

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“…However, the greater advances were observed in the availability of resources to flies (nectar and pollen), butterflies (nectar), and wasps (nectar and pollen); and the greater delay in the availability of resource to beetles (pollen) indicate a stronger influence of fire on plant-animal pollination interactions. In fact, it is possible that a temporal mismatch may occur between plant and pollinator phenologies (Peñuelas and Filella 2001;Memmott et al 2007;Solga et al 2014), since both nectar and pollen availability may not coincide with the period of natural pollinator activity (Bawa 1990;Hegland et al 2009). It is notable that there were virtually no flowering individuals in the month after fire, which may represent a transient negative effect of fire on resource availability to those pollinator groups caused by the destruction of flower buds (Hoffmann 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Negative consequences are also associated with plant species supporting moths, of which there were very few individuals that provided suitable nectar, and showed a delay in nectar availability by three months. Moths are seasonally active, which may break the natural synchrony between plant and pollinator phenologies (Peñuelas and Filella 2001;Memmott et al 2007;Solga et al 2014). Also, the small nectar availability to moths is observed all year round in both scenarios (with and without the effects of fire), and moth-pollinated species are not particularly abundant in cerrado, possibly as a consequence of fire affecting this plant-animal mutualism (Bond 1994;Kearns and Inouye 1997;Potts et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The effects of fire have been mainly explored in terms of post-fire changes in the abundance and diversity of plants showing reproductive phenophases (Williams et al 1999; Lamont and Downes 2011 and references therein). Phenological response to fire may have a direct influence on plant-animal interactions, by altering the period of occurrence of a phenophase, which can lead to the decoupling of species interactions (Williams et al 1999;Peñuelas and Filella 2001;Solga et al 2014;Morellato et al 2016). In the field of pollination biology, there are a growing number of studies that demonstrate that fire can significantly influence plant-pollinator interactions (Ne'eman et al 2000;Geerts et al 2012;van Nuland et al 2013;Brown et al 2016a, b;Ponisio et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does fire affect the temporal pattern of trophic resource supply to pollinators and seed-dispersing frugivores in a Brazilian savanna community?

et al. 2016

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In tropical savannas, such as the campo cerrado in Brazil, fire plays an important role, affecting plant species' life history. Since fire has the potential to modify the structure of savanna communities as a whole, it is expected that it may influence the resource supply for mutualists by altering the pattern of investment in sexual reproduction. We used an experimental approach to test if fire alters trophic resource availability to pollinators (nectar, pollen, and oil) and seed-dispersing frugivores (fleshy fruits) by altering the seasonality of reproductive phenophases in a savanna community. We sampled all individuals of 60 species that were common to both control and experimental fire treatments. Each month we recorded the number of reproductive individuals to test whether fire affected the temporal resource offered by the plant assemblage as a whole, and by each specific plant group supporting distinct groups of pollinators and seed-dispersing frugivores. We noticed that fire advanced the nectar, pollen, and fleshy fruit offered by the whole assemblage. Additionally, fire affected the temporal pattern of nectar and pollen available to various pollinator groups, and of fleshy fruits available to all seed-dispersing frugivores. In general, fire seems to have a neutral or even a positive effect on resource availability to mutualists. Nevertheless, there were differences in the availability of the resource utilized by each guild of mutualists. Keywords Cerrado Á Fire Á Flowering Á Fruiting Á Mutualism Á Phenology Communicated by Michael Lawes.

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High levels of phenological asynchrony between specialized pollinators and plants with short flowering phases

Maglianesi

Hanson

Brenes

et al. 2020

Ecology

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Species phenology plays a key role in determining mutualistic interactions, such as those between plants and pollinators. Notably, temporal synchrony shapes the patterns of interactions by influencing the probability of encounters between interacting partners; thus, species phenology greatly contributes to structuring ecological communities. In these communities, specialized species are expected to show a high level of synchrony with their partners; however, the relationship between species phenology and specialization remains largely unexplored. In three localities in the tropical mountains of Costa Rica, we quantified the level of phenological synchrony in plant–pollinator networks and tested whether phenological synchrony is associated with the degree of pollinator specialization on plant partners. We also tested the relationship between pollinator specialization and the length of the flowering phase of the visited plants. Across all three studied networks, our results show a strong asynchrony between interacting plant and pollinator species. We also found that more specialized pollinators were more asynchronous with their plant partners and, moreover, that specialized pollinators preferably visited plant species with shorter flowering phases compared to generalized pollinators. These patterns suggest that specialized pollinators may be more vulnerable to mutualistic disruptions because they depend primarily on short‐lived resources and have a high risk of phenological mismatch. This discovery has important consequences for specialized species’ potential to survive and adapt to changes in the phenology of their interacting partners, which is highly relevant in a time characterized by changing climates and associated shifts in species phenology.

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Timing is Everything: An Overview of Phenological Changes to Plants and Their Pollinators

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 40 publications

References 50 publications

Diversity and flower-visiting rates of bee species as potential pollinators of melon (Cucumis melo L.) in the Brazilian Cerrado

Diversity and flower-visiting rates of bee species as potential pollinators of melon (Cucumis melo L.) in the Brazilian Cerrado

Does fire affect the temporal pattern of trophic resource supply to pollinators and seed-dispersing frugivores in a Brazilian savanna community?

High levels of phenological asynchrony between specialized pollinators and plants with short flowering phases

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