Abstract:
Pollination is a vitally important function in nature and becomes an ecosystem service because it influences the food and nutritional security for people. However, the contribution of different functional traits of insects for pollen transport of plants is still poorly known. We explore the relationship between pollinator insect functional traits and the transport of pollen of sweet granadilla (Passiflora ligularis Juss) in eight crops. We sampled flower-visiting insects of this crop and recorded 10 functional traits (five by direct measurements and five from the literature) that were related to the amount of pollen carried by each insect. Bees (Apidae) were not only the most abundant insects but also the ones that loaded the highest amounts of pollen. Within these, the most abundant species was the exotic common honeybee (Apis mellifera (Linnaeus)) making up almost half of the specimens collected; however, this bee carried less pollen grains than other native bees. Bombus hortulanus (Smith) was one of the large-bodied native bees that carried more sweet granadilla pollen, despite not being an abundant species in the community. Body size was the most important trait determining the transport of sweet granadilla pollen, while the traits related to body hairs were not significant for the body\'s pollen load. None of the functional traits evaluated was influenced by taxonomy at species-level. Our results suggest that large body sizes in bees are the most important traits in granadilla pollen transport, regardless of other changes in composition and structure of pollinating insect assemblages in the crop.
摘要:
授粉是自然界中至关重要的功能,并成为一种生态系统服务,因为它影响人们的食物和营养安全。然而,昆虫的不同功能性状对植物花粉运输的贡献尚不清楚。我们探索了八种作物的授粉昆虫功能性状与甜granadilia(PassifloraligularisJuss)花粉运输之间的关系。我们对这种作物的访花昆虫进行了采样,并记录了10个功能性状(5个通过直接测量,5个来自文献),这些性状与每种昆虫携带的花粉量有关。蜜蜂(Apidae)不仅是最丰富的昆虫,而且是花粉含量最高的昆虫。在这些之内,最丰富的物种是外来的普通蜜蜂(Apismellifera(Linnaeus)),几乎占收集到的标本的一半;但是,这种蜜蜂携带的花粉粒比其他本地蜜蜂少。Bombushortulanus(史密斯)是大型本地蜜蜂之一,携带更多的甜瓜花粉,尽管不是社区中丰富的物种。体型是决定甜瓜花粉运输的最重要性状,而与体毛相关的性状对人体花粉负荷不显著。所评估的功能性状均不受物种水平分类学的影响。我们的结果表明,蜜蜂的大体型是格拉纳迪拉花粉运输中最重要的特征,不考虑作物中授粉昆虫组合的组成和结构的其他变化。