中国东北中生代安纽蝎蛉总科研究进展

安纽蝎蛉总科由长翅目中3个灭绝的科组成.它们的共同的特征是具有长管状吸收式口器,推测其与裸子植物的授粉有密切关系.目前在我国东北中生代共发现安纽蝎蛉总科化石5属11种,对它们进行了简单地综述并提供了相应的检索表,探讨了当时这类具有“长口器”的长翅目昆虫与裸子植物之间的取食和授粉过程,以及二者之间协同进化模式,并对早期被子植物传粉模式做了初步推测.     

美丽花网翅虻Florinemestrius pulcherrimus Ren

本期封面化石照片为美丽花网翅虻Florinemestrius pulcherrimusRen,1998,隶属于双翅目短角亚目网翅虻科,采自中国辽宁省北票市晚侏罗世义县组地层。虫体保存十分完整,不仅翅脉、足、腹部清晰可见,口器以及虫体的细毛均保存良好。在辽西义县地层中还有大量该科的化石,分别归于2属3种。照片中的F.pulcherrimus拥有较短的长喙,另一种Protonemestrius jurassicus的喙近体长一半。现生的网翅虻是主要的访花昆虫,一些种类以花蜜和花汁为食。综合分析这批化石虻类的长喙、体毛以及与现生类群的比较,作者认为这些生活在晚侏罗纪的喜花虻类很可能利…     

神农架地区典型草本群落中的昆虫访花行为比较

对神农架地区不同海拔高度(1,000–2,600 m)的典型草本群落中的昆虫访花行为进行了初步的监测和统计。在9个样地中共观察到鳞翅目、膜翅目、双翅目11科昆虫访花, 访花者的类群在不同海拔高度的群落中有所不同, 但明显与植物群落的物种组成有关。对昆虫访花频率的监测发现, 不同物种组成的草本群落中, 所有昆虫访花的总频率和不同类群的昆虫访花频率都有差异, 正在开花的物种较多的群落中通常能吸引相对较多的访花者。同一种植物在不同的群落背景中受访频率差异显著, 如花被不甚显著的酸模(Rumex acetosa)在某些群落中未观察到访花者, 在另一些群落中却有昆虫频繁访问。而花被显著的血见愁老鹳草(Geranium henryi)在各群落中都有频繁的昆虫访问。一些植物(如广布野豌豆Vicia cracca)虽然在不同群落中都有昆虫访问, 但访花者类群却有较大差异。作者认为, 在植物群落中, 不同植物的花在吸引昆虫传粉方面存在着一定的相互作用, 在研究特定植物的虫媒传粉时应重视该植物种群所处的群落背景所起的作用。     

传粉昆虫行为的研究方法探讨

昆虫访花行为能对植物与传粉者相互作用的很多方面产生直接的影响, 因此相关研究对于理解植物的多样性和植物生殖生态过程非常重要。本文介绍了主要的传粉昆虫种类及其特征, 并探讨了昆虫访花行为及其影响因素的研究方法。同时还探讨了进行夜间传粉昆虫和群落水平上昆虫行为研究的方法, 以期能为植物-传粉者相互作用这一多学科交叉领域的学者, 尤其是植物学家和昆虫学家提供有益的参考资料。     

杏开花与落花动态及访花昆虫调查

[目的]杏Armeniaca vulgaris是我国重要的传统果树品种之一,属早春开花植物,其授粉过程易受自然环境和访花昆虫因素影响。掌握杏开花与落花动态以及访花昆虫的种类和访花节律,对于研究杏花花期预测预报、访花昆虫生物学规律及田间配置具有重要意义。[方法]通过调查杏花逐日开花和落花动态,并进行逻辑斯蒂方程拟合分析,建立杏花开花和落花预测预报模型。采用目测、网捕、拍照和摄像等方法对访花昆虫种类和活动节律进行调查,并对访花昆虫活动节律进行了多项式拟合,建立回归方程。[结果]金太阳杏、凯特杏和珍珠油杏开花初见日、高峰日、终见日和历期均无显著差异;除落花历期外,3个品种杏花落花初见日、高峰日、终见日均存在显著差异。逻辑斯蒂拟合发现,3个品种开花和落花盛期历期由长到短的顺序为:凯特杏金太阳杏珍珠油杏,花期为:珍珠油杏凯特杏金太阳杏。访花昆虫共发现11种,分属6目8科10属,中华蜜蜂Apis cerana ceraca Fabricius占所有访花昆虫数量的98.7%,访花高峰期出现在10:00-14:00,其访花活动节律符合方程y=-0.2977x~3+1.6947x~2+6.4193x-11.3780。[结论]综合以上试验结果,认为珍珠油杏花期较长,有利于访花昆虫充分传粉和人工辅助授粉,但易遭受冻害、霜害影响,凯特杏次之,金太阳杏受害风险则较小,但可能授粉不充分。因此,杏产业发展应根据种植区域自然、人力条件等选择合适品种栽植。根据访花昆虫的活动节律,应尽量避免在花期尤其是10:00-14:00之间进行农事操作,以免影响昆虫传粉。     

祥云坝区冬季访花昆虫调查及生态位分析

为了揭示祥云坝区冬季的访花昆虫种类及生态位,于2015年12月—2016年1月进行野外观察访问显花植物油菜、芥蓝、蚕豆的昆虫。每隔一周记录一天中间隔30 min内的访花昆虫种类、头数、访问次数以及停留时间,利用生态位宽度、生态位重叠方法对该坝区访花昆虫的组成及生态位特征进行了研究。结果表明:在冬季该坝区访花昆虫分为膜翅目和双翅目两大类,中蜂、意蜂、家蝇、长尾管蚜蝇是优势授粉者;一天中昆虫的访问高峰期存在差异,在11:00—15:30内访花昆虫种类繁多;不同昆虫的停留时间存在差异(F2,862=13.43,P0.01),家蝇最长(32.81±2.56 s),意蜂最短(9.91±0.40 s),昆虫停留在油菜上最长(16.50±0.82 s),蚕豆最短(10.31±1.14 s);冬季访花昆虫的生态位宽度也不一样,意蜂最高(Bi=0.8345,Ba=0.3074);种内的生态位重叠值大而种间较小,即中蜂与意蜂重叠值为0.8451,中蜂与家蝇为0.0928。上述结果表明,访花昆虫高峰期出现时间段不同能够减少对冬季有限食物资源取食的竞争。蜂类因在授粉上有较高的生态位宽度而成为当地植物授粉的优势昆虫,但在生态位上有较高的重叠表明蜂类之间又存在较大的竞争压力,这在一定程度上也解释了近年来在引入外来西方蜜蜂后中国蜜蜂土著种逐渐减少的现象。     

昆虫化石的新发现

最近,在英国南部维尔丹地区中生代白垩纪地层内,发现了大量的昆虫化石,在约50平方厘米的层面上,就将近有385个不同个体的标本。这些昆虫化石保存完好,没有受到破坏,它们在含植物化石的层面上,清楚地展现了在显花植物出现之前昆虫世界生活的图象。这些化石昆虫绝大多数都是会飞的种类。属于双翅目的个体较小,有的翅膀只有5毫米长;而半翅目的个体较大,翅长可达10厘米。除了鳞翅目外,绝大多     

油茶传粉昆虫研究现状与方向的探讨

油茶是典型的异花授粉植物,其中虫媒是主要形式,所以利用野生传粉性昆虫来提高油茶授粉效率,解除花粉限制,是解决我国油茶产业"瓶颈"的有效方法之一。目前,关于油茶传粉昆虫的研究比较匮乏,仅限于传粉昆虫的种类调查和部分野生蜜蜂传粉生物学和营巢生物学特性研究,不能满足油茶产业发展的需要。在现有研究基础上,结合传粉昆虫研究发展趋势,本文将提出以下几个重要研究内容:油茶访花昆虫种类的调查和鉴定;主要传粉昆虫传粉生物学研究;优势传粉昆虫的筛选;野生传粉蜜蜂与油茶授粉间的关系;利用传粉昆虫与油茶的协同进化进行油茶品种选育。以期为油茶传粉昆虫的后续研究提供参考。     

八角金盘传粉昆虫及其访花行为

八角金盘(Fatsia japonica(Thunb.)Dccne.et Planch.)为冬季开花植物,探讨其访花昆虫种类及访花行为对研究冬季开花植物的传粉生物学规律具有重要意义。对八角金盘访花昆虫种类、访花频率、访花时间、访花行为进行了初步研究。结果发现:八角金盘的传粉昆虫有2目、3科、3种,主要为膜翅目胡蜂科金环胡蜂Vespa mandarinia Smith、双翅目食蚜蝇科斜斑鼓额食蚜蝇Scaeva pyrastri(L.)及丽蝇科大头金蝇Chrysomya(Compsomyia)megacephala(Fabricius);八角金盘提供的酬物主要为花粉与花蜜,食蚜蝇舔食其花粉与花蜜,而金环胡蜂与大头金蝇主要吮吸花蜜;金环胡蜂、大头金蝇及斜斑鼓额食蚜蝇的访花高峰均在10:30—14:30;斜斑鼓额食蚜蝇访花时间较长,5～10min,金环胡蜂访花时间较短,8～30s,大头金蝇访花时间最短只有3～5s。八角金盘具有较低的自花授粉能力,但主要为异花授粉植物。     

中国中生代鞘翅目化石研究现状

1923年A.W.Grabau通过对山东省莱阳盆地莱阳组早白垩世昆虫化石的研究,命名了我国第1种鞘翅目化石昆虫(Proteroscarabaeus yeni).此后,中国昆虫化石分类学者先后发表了40余篇关于我国中生代鞘翅目化石昆虫的分类论著,共描述鉴定了182种,涉及35科,137属.这些化石分布于12个省,其中三叠纪11个种,侏罗纪68个种,白垩纪103个种.本文通过图表列举出我国已发现的中生代鞘翅目化石昆虫名录以及它们的分布和年代,总结了国内中生代甲虫化石当前的研究状况,并初步分析了研究中存在的一些问题.另外本文还介绍了国外学者对于中国古昆虫学者所建立的4个新科提出的不同意见.     

Contribution of small insects to pollination of common buckwheat, a distylous crop

Crop pollination by animals is an essential ecosystem service. Among animal-pollinated crops, distylous plants strongly depend on animal pollination. In distylous pollination systems, pollinator species are usually limited, although flowers of some distylous plants are visited by diverse animals. We studied the pollination biology of common buckwheat ( Fagopyrum esculentum ), a distylous crop mainly pollinated by honeybees and visited by many insect species, to evaluate the effects of non-honeybee species on pollination services. We focused on insects smaller than honeybees to determine their contribution to pollination. We applied pollination treatments with bags of coarse mesh to exclude flower visits by honeybees and larger insects and compared the seed set of bagged plants with that of untreated plants for pin and thrum flower morphs. We found a great reduction of seed set only in bagged pin flowers. We also confirmed that small insects, including ants, bees, wasps and flies, carried pin-morph pollen. These small insects transfer pollen from the short anthers of pin flowers to the short styles of thrum flowers, leading to sufficient seed set in thrum flowers. Consequently, small, non-honeybee insects have the potential to maintain at least half of the yield of this honeybee-dependent distylous crop.     

The Restoration of Plant–Pollinator Interactions in Hay Meadows

Whether restoration programs successfully reinstate ecological interactions remains a contentious and largely untested issue. We investigated plant and pollinator interactions on two old and two restored hay meadows, with the aim of evaluating if quantitative patterns of insect visitation and pollen transport were comparable among old and restored meadows. In terms of structural diversity, few species of plants and insects were shared among the webs. In all four meadows, Diptera and Hymenoptera dominated the visitor community in terms of both species richness and abundance. Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Lepidoptera comprised the remainder of the flower visitors. No significant difference was found between restored and old sites in plant or insect species richness or in plant and insect abundance. In terms of function, the meadows appeared more similar, although a slightly higher proportion of the potential links between plants and insects was realized for old meadows. No difference was found in the proportion of plant species visited, and visited plant species were generalized, with all having more than a single species of insect visitor. We also sampled approximately 400,000 pollen grains from the flower‐visiting insects. There were no differences between old and restored sites in the amount of pollen being transported or in the average number of pollen grains per insect. At both types of meadows, Hymenoptera carried most pollen, followed by Diptera. Again, generalization was the norm, with all plants having more than a single species of pollen carrier. No difference was observed in the connectance of pollen transport webs between old and restored sites. Overall, although the four meadows showed considerable structural variation, they showed similarity with regard to the functional processes we studied. Because structural variation is expected among localities, we conclude that the two restoration projects have been successful.     

Flower-strip agri-environment schemes provide diverse and valuable summer flower resources for pollinating insects

The diversity and abundance of insect pollinators are declining. This decline reduces the potential ecosystem services of pollination for wild and cultivated plants. Specific agri-environment schemes (AES) are subsidised to support and conserve biodiversity in farmlands. In Belgium, the pollinator flower-strips AES, strips of flower-rich hay meadows, has been promoted as a potential scheme to increase pollinator abundance and diversity, even if their effectiveness has not been locally evaluated. The main objective of this research is to assess the capacity of pollinator-strip AES to provide flower-resources to diverse pollinators. During 2 years, we monthly measured the availability of flower resources (pollen and nectar) produced on four flower-strips surrounded by intensive farming in Belgium. We counted and identified insects that visited these flowers, and we constructed the plant–insect interactions networks. The pollinator-strip AES presented a mix of both sown and spontaneous plant species. The ten sown plant species were all present, even after 8 years of strip settings. Three of them, Centaurea jacea, Lotus corniculatus, and Daucus carota were mainly visited for nectar collection, and a spontaneous non-sown species, Trifolium repens, had a key role in providing high-quality pollen to insects. Most of the observed flower-visiting insects belonged to common species of Hymenoptera and Diptera. All are considered highly efficient pollinators. The Belgian pollinator flower-strips are effective AES that provide flower resources to pollinators, mainly during summer and support pollination services. Nevertheless, spring and autumn flower resources remain poor and could reduce the strips’ effectiveness for supporting long-term insect diversity.     

Pollination efficiencies of flower-visiting insects as determined by direct genetic analysis of pollen origin

The amount and genetic composition of pollen grains that are transported to flowers influence the reproduction and fitness of plants. Despite the importance of insect-pollination systems, an understanding of those systems is still lacking due to the absence of a genetic analysis of pollen grains that are transported to flowers. We evaluated the pollination efficiencies of bumblebees (Apidae, Bombus spp.), flower beetles (Scarabaeidae, subfamily Cetoniinae, Protaetia and Eucetonia sp.), and small beetles (Lagriidae, Arthromacra sp.) that visited the flowers of Magnolia obovata (Magnoliaceae) using quantitative (flower visitation frequency, amount of adherent pollen per insect) and qualitative (origin and genetic diversity of adherent pollen per insect) criteria. Most of the pollen adhering to bumblebees and small beetles was self-pollen. This result suggests that visitation by these insects may cause geitonogamous pollen flow and negatively affect the reproduction of M. obovata, causing inbreeding depression. In contrast, flower beetles transported large amounts of genetically diverse outcross pollen. Our results suggest that certain beetle species contribute quantitatively and qualitatively to the pollination of M. obovata. Direct genetic analysis of pollen grains will advance our understanding of plant mating systems and may shed light on the mutualism and coevolution of plants and flower visitors.     

Timing in the evolution of derived floral characters: upper cretaceous (turonian) taxa with tricolpate and tricolpate-derived pollen

Various hypotheses that seek to explain the rich species diversity of angiosperms relative to other seed plants are briefly mentioned or reviewed. Of these, the subset that relates angiosperm diversity in some way to the relationship between angiosperms and insects, particularly anthophilous insects, is here the object of attention. Specifically, I address and reject the possibility that the relationship between angiosperm diversification and insects, particularly those demonstrating a preference for flowers with derived floral characteristics associated with insect pollination, may be ruled out because of asynchronous patterns of diversification in the fossil record. New data on floral structure from the Turonian of the Atlantic Coastal Plain reveal a surprising diversity of floral characters in taxa bearing tricolpate and tricolporate-derived pollen. The characters and taxa that appear in these Turonian sediments suggest that rather specific modes of insect pollination, perhaps involving highly derived insect pollinators, already existed at 90 Ma. Given the observed rate of diversification of angiosperms during that time and the pattern of evolution in insects, including what can be inferred about the history of the Apidae, these new floral data suggest that hypotheses relating angiosperm diversity to highly specific pollinators are still valid in the context of fossil evidence. Even so, consistency with fossil evidence is not necessarily proof of these relationships. In any case, there may well be multiple causes of relatively high angiosperm species diversity and understanding the relative importance of each of these requires neontological as well as paleontological investigations. One promising approach is to work within the context of phylogenetic patterns with more fossil data.     

Pollinator‐prey conflict in carnivorous plants

Most carnivorous plants utilize insects in two ways: the flowers attract insects as pollen vectors for sexual reproduction, and the leaves trap insects for nutrients. Feeding on insects has been explained as an adaptation to nutrient‐poor soil, and carnivorous plants have been shown to benefit from insect capture through increased growth, earlier flowering and increased seed production. Most carnivorous plant species seem to benefit from insect pollination, although many species autonomously self‐pollinate and some propagate vegetatively. However, assuming that outcross pollen is advantageous and is a more important determinant of reproductive success than the nutrients gained from prey, there should be a selective pressure on carnivorous plants not to feed on their potential pollen vectors. Therefore, it has been suggested that carnivorous plants are subject to a conflict, often called the pollinator‐prey conflict (PPC). The conflict results from a trade‐off of the benefits from feeding on potentially pollinating insects versus the need to use them as pollen vectors for sexual reproduction. In this review we analyze the conditions under which a PPC may occur, review the evidence for the existence of PPCs in carnivorous plants, and explore the mechanisms that may be in place to prevent or alleviate a PPC. With respect to the latter, we discuss how plant signals such as olfactory and visual cues may play a role in separating the functions of pollinator attraction and prey capture.     

Pollinator sharing between mass-flowering oilseed rape and co-flowering wild plants: implications for wild plant pollination

Pollinating insects are not only important in wild plant pollination, but also in the production of a large number of crops. Oilseed rape production is increasing globally due to demands for biofuels which may have impacts on pollinating insects which visit the crop and on the pollination services delivered to co-flowering wild plants. In this study, we tested (1) the degree of pollinator sharing between oilseed rape and native wild plants in field margins and hedgerows and (2) the effects of oilseed rape on the quality of pollination service delivered to these wild plants. We found large overlap between flower visitors of wild plants and oilseed rape, but the composition of species overlap differed with respect to each wild plant species. Nearly all individual visitors caught on both the crop and foraging on wild species carried crop pollen, but more than half the insects also carried pollen from wild plants. However, very little oilseed rape pollen was deposited on wild plant stigmas. This shows that (1) oilseed rape overlaps in pollinator niche with most co-flowering wild plants, and (2) crop pollen deposition on wild plant stigmas is low which may indicate that it is unlikely to cause reductions in seed set of wild plants, although this was not measured here. Furthermore, wild plants in field margins and hedgerows are important sources of alternative forage for pollinating insects even when a crop is mass flowering, and we suggest maintenance and augmentation of field margins and hedgerows to provide alternative forage for pollinator conservation to continue provision of pollination services to both crops and wild plants.     

Bird pollination syndrome is the plant's adaptation to ornithophily,but nectarivorous birds are not so selective

Many tropical plants are pollinated by birds and several bird phylogenetical lineages have specialised to a nectar diet. The long-assumed, intimate ecological and evolutionary relationship between ornithophilous plants and phenotypically specialised nectarivorous birds has nevertheless been questioned in recent decades, where such plant–pollinator interactions have been shown to be highly generalised. In our study, we analysed two extensive interaction datasets: bird–flower and insect–flower interactions, both collected on Mt Cameroon, west-central Africa. We tested if: 1) insects and birds interact with distinct groups of plants; 2) plants with a typical set of ornithophilous floral traits (i.e. bird pollination syndrome) interact mainly with birds; 3) birds favour plants with bird pollination syndrome and; 4) if and how the individual floral traits and plant level nectar production predict bird visitation. Bird-visited plants were typically also visited by insects, while approximately half of the plants were visited by insects only. We confirmed the validity of the bird pollination syndrome hypothesis, as plants with bird-pollination syndrome traits were visited by birds at a higher rate and mostly hosted a lower frequency of visiting insects. However, these ornithophilous plants were not more attractive than the other plants for nectar-feeding birds. Nectar production per plant individual was a better predictor of bird visitation than any other floral trait traditionally related to the bird pollination syndrome. Our study thus demonstrated the highly asymmetrical relationship between ornithophilous plants and nectarivorous birds.     

POLLINATION OF THE ARROYO WILLOW,SALIX LASIOLEPIS: ROLE OF INSECTS AND WIND

We studied the relative roles of insects and wind as pollen vectors for the arroyo willow, Salix lasiolepis Benth. through insect exclosure studies at two elevational sites. Insect pollination resulted in production of 99.9% of seeds at a low elevation site (2,130 m) and at a high elevation site (2,450 m) with wind playing an exceedingly small role. Few pollen grains reached individual pistillate catkins despite the presence of abundant airborne willow pollen near male plants. In flowers that showed evidence of receipt of wind transferred pollen, due to their swollen appearance, we found only 1.74 fertilized ovules per flower and that 90.9% of these fertilized ovules were aborted by the maternal plant. In contrast, flowers open to insect visitation possessed 7.00 fertilized ovules per flower, 83.3% of which became filled seeds. We tested for the existence of apomictic seed production through use of closed bags that excluded both insect-and wind-transferred pollen but found no evidence of seed produced in this treatment. Additional control studies documented that wind treatment bags did not impede pollen flow while neither wind or closed bags influenced seed set in our treatments.     

The best of two worlds: ecology and evolution of ambophilous plants

Ambophily, the mixed mode of wind and insect pollination is still poorly understood, even though it has been known to science for over 130 years. While its presence has been repeatedly inferred, experimental data remain regrettably rare. No specific suite of morphological or ecological characteristics has yet been identified for ambophilous plants and their ecology and evolution remain uncertain. In this review we summarise and evaluate our current understanding of ambophily, primarily based on experimental studies. A total of 128 ambophilous species – including several agriculturally important crops – have been reported from most major habitat types worldwide, but this probably represents only a small subset of ambophilous species. Ambophilous species have evolved both from wind- and insect-pollinated ancestors, with insect-pollinated ancestors mostly representing pollination by small, generalist flower visitors. We compiled floral and reproductive traits for known ambophilous species and compared our results to traits of species pollinated either by wind or by small generalist insects only. Floral traits were found to be heterogeneous and strongly overlap especially with those of species pollinated by small generalist insects, which are also the prominent pollinator group for ambophilous plants. A few ambophilous species are only pollinated by specialised bees or beetles in addition to pollination by wind. The heterogeneity of floral traits and high similarity to generalist small insect-pollinated species lead us to conclude that ambophily is not a separate pollination syndrome but includes species belonging to different insect- as well as wind-pollination syndromes. Ambophily therefore should be regarded as a pollination mode. We found that a number of ecological factors promoted the evolution of ambophily, including avoidance of pollen limitation and self-pollination, spatial flower interference and population density. However, the individual ecological factors favouring the transition to ambophily vary among species depending on species distribution, habitat, population structure and reproductive system. Finally, a number of experimental studies in combination with observations of floral traits of living and fossil species and dated phylogenies may indicate evolutionary stability. In some clades ambophily has likely prevailed for millions of years, for example in the castanoid clade of the Fagaceae.