POLLINATION OF TWO SYMPATRIC SPECIES OF DALECHAMPIA (EUPHORBIACEAE) IN SURINAME BY MALE EUGLOSSINE BEES |
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| Authors: | W Scott Armbruster Ann L Herzig Thomas P Clausen |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Biology and Wildlife and Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775-0180;2. Section of Ecology and Systematics, Corson Lab, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14854;3. Department of Chemistry and Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775-0520 |
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| Abstract: | Dalechampia brownsbergensis and D. fragrans co-occur in Suriname, and both are pollinated by fragrance-collecting male euglossine bees. Dalechampia brownsbergensis appears to bloom year-round and is pollinated by relatively few species of bees, including Euglossa tridentata and E. gaianii. In contrast, D. fragrans appears to bloom from late October through early December and is visited and pollinated by at least 13 species of euglossines. Field observations of pollination indicated that the two species did not share pollinators. However, when the flowers of D. fragrans were “transplanted” into a population of D. brownsbergensis, the main pollinator of D. brownsbergensis also visited the flowers of D. fragrans. The pollinators of D. fragrans, however, did not visit the flowers of D. brownsbergensis. Partial sharing of pollinators may have only a small negative impact on the two sympatric plant species at this site because they flower simultaneously only part of the year, and they are often spatially separated from one another. |
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