Journal
JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY
Volume 28, Issue -, Pages 343-351Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0266467412000296
Keywords
androdioecy; Apis mellifera; behaviour; geitonogamy; honey bee; insect pollination; Laguncularia racemosa; male fitness
Categories
Funding
- Montgomery Botanical Center, Coral Gables, Florida
- Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Coral Gables, Florida
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Insect-pollinated Laguncularia racemosa has a variable breeding system; some populations are androdioecious, with male and hermaphroditic plants, while others lack male plants. We observed the foraging behaviours of insects in three androdioecious and three hermaphrodite-only populations of L. racemosa in Florida. In each population, insect visitation rates were estimated from 30-108 timed intervals. We recorded the number of flowers visited by 144-224 insects during foraging bouts made to 15-40 male and hermaphroditic plants. Male plants in androdioecious populations had significantly more visitors than hermaphroditic plants, increasing the number of vectors carrying pollen from male plants. Further, many insects visited few flowers during foraging bouts, which should increase outcrossing frequency. According to mathematical models, male plants benefit from these combined factors. Plants in hermaphrodite-only populations had significantly more visitors than hermaphroditic plants in androdioecious populations. Proportionately more insects visited many flowers during foraging bouts in hermaphrodite-only versus androdioecious populations. The increased likelihood of geitonogamous self-pollination could help explain the lack of male plants in hermaphrodite-only populations. Differences in pollinator assemblages and the relative abundances of several species were responsible for differences in foraging behaviours: Apis mellifera, Bombus sp., Melissodes sp., Xylocopa sp., Euodynerus sp. and a calliphorid species.
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