Contrasting pollination efficiency and effectiveness among flower visitors of Malva sylvestris, Borago officinalis and Onobrychis viciifolia

Anna Gorenflo; Tim Diekötter; Mark van Kleunen; Volkmar Wolters; Frank Jauker

doi:10.26786/1920-7603(2017)421

Authors

Anna Gorenflo Justus Liebig University Giessen
Tim Diekötter Kiel University
Mark van Kleunen University of Konstanz Taizhou University
Volkmar Wolters Justus Liebig University Giessen
Frank Jauker Justus Liebig University Giessen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2017)421

Abstract

Biotic pollination is an important factor for ecosystem functioning and provides a substantial ecosystem service to human food security. Not all flower visitors are pollinators, however, and pollinators differ in their pollination performances. In this study, we determined the efficiencies of flower visitors to the plant species Malva sylvestris, Borago officinalis and Onobrychis viciifolia by analysing stigmatic pollen deposition. We further calculated pollinator effectiveness by scaling up single-visit pollen deposition using visitation frequency. Flower-visitor groups differed in their efficiencies at the single-visit level and not all of them deposited more pollen compared to unvisited stigmas. Bumblebees tended to be most efficient in depositing pollen per single visit across the three plant species. Due to the by far highest visitation frequencies, Apis mellifera showed the highest effectiveness in depositing pollen per hour for M. sylvestris and B. officinalis, but not for O. viciifolia, for which the Bombus lapidarius complex was both the most frequent and the most effective pollinator group. Hence, the most frequent flower visitors were most effective in our study. For non-dominant pollinator groups, however, visitation frequencies contributed disproportionally to pollinator effectiveness. Thus, combining pollen deposition per single-visit with visitation frequency is necessary to reveal true pollinator performance and to better understand flower-visitor interactions.

Author Biographies

Anna Gorenflo, Justus Liebig University Giessen

Department of Insect Biotechnology,

Applied Entomology

Tim Diekötter, Kiel University

Department of Landscape Ecology

Mark van Kleunen, University of Konstanz Taizhou University

Ecology, Department of Biology

Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation

Volkmar Wolters, Justus Liebig University Giessen

Department of Animal Ecology

Frank Jauker, Justus Liebig University Giessen

Department of Animal Ecology

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