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Abstract Detail


Pollination Biology

Miller , Andrew Paul [1].

Temporal Patterns of Pollinator Assemblage Diversity at a Neotropical Daisy (Wulffia baccata).

Little is known about pollinator assemblages of non-economic plants. I therefore studied membership of a pollinator assemblage of the rainforest daisy, Wulffia baccata in Guyana, South America. Insects were the only pollinators to visit this plant, and had the highest species richness during Time Block-II (TB-II; 0900-1159 h; 23 species), and second highest in TB-IV (1300-1459 h; 22 species). These diurnal visitors were represented by several taxa and included flies, wasps, bees, and butterflies. The majority were observed during TB-II (401 insects-mostly stingless bees), and tapered off during succeeding TBs. Richness was also mirrored by the information-theoretic Shannon diversity index (H/) with TB-IV providing the highest H/ of 2.32, and TB-V (1800-1900 h) the lowest value of H/ at 1.71. It seemed as though the individual flowers of each inflorescence began filling with nectar at sunrise, which may explain why only a few small-to-medium sized pollinators frequented the plant during the first Time Block. I speculate that nectar levels were optimal 4-5 hours after sunrise, and that less effective pollinator species visited W. baccata during the afternoon hours. This is the first documentation of W. baccata pollinator assemblage diversity, and these results suggested that time-of-day was related to variation in floral visitation.

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1 - University of Missouri-St. Louis, Biology, 1 University Blvd.; 63121, 13 JoAnn Place; 63126, Saint Louis, MO, 63121, USA

Keywords:
Biodiversity
Insect pollination
Diurnal assemblage
Asteraceae
Wulffia baccata
Hymenoptera
Guianan Shield.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Topics
Session: P
Location: Khorassan Ballroom/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Monday, July 11th, 2011
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PPL001
Abstract ID:158


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