TY - JOUR
T1 - Orchestrated flowering and interspecific facilitation
T2 - Key factors in the maintenance of the main pollinator of coexisting threatened species of andean wax palms (ceroxylon spp.)
AU - Carreño-Barrera, Javier
AU - Núñez-Avellaneda, Luis Alberto
AU - Sanín, Maria José
AU - Maia, Artur Campos D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Solitary, dioecious, and mostly endemic to Andean cloud forests, wax palms (Ceroxylon Bonpl. ex DC. spp.) are currently under worrisome conservation status. The establishment of management plans for their dwindling populations rely on detailed biological data, including their reproductive ecology. As in the case of numerous other Neotropical palm taxa, small beetles are assumed to be selective pollinators of wax palms, but their identity and relevance in successful fruit yield were unknown. During three consecutive reproductive seasons we collected data on population phenology and reproductive and floral biology of three syntopic species of wax palms native to the Colombian Andes. We also determined the composition of the associated flower-visiting entomofauna, quantifying the extent of the role of individual species as effective pollinators through standardized value indexes that take into consideration abundance, constancy, and pollen transport efficiency. The studied populations of C. parvifrons (Engel) H. Wendl., C. ventricosum Burret, and C. vogelianum (Engel) H. Wendl. exhibit seasonal reproductive cycles with marked temporal patterns of flower and fruit production. The composition of the associated flower-visiting entomofauna, comprised by ca. 50 morphotypes, was constant across flowering seasons and differed only marginally among species. Nonetheless, a fraction of the insect species associated with pistillate inflorescences actually carried pollen, and calculated pollinator importance indexes demonstrated that one insect species alone, Mystrops rotundula Sharp, accounted for 94%–99% of the effective pollination services 1 We thank Prof. Dr. Santiago Madriñan, who supervised this study as an MSc project at the Biological Science graduate program of Universidad de los Andes. We also thank Camilo Alvarado Viveros and his family for offering his home and for his assistance in the field, and Dr. Jhon César Neita-Moreno for helping with the identification of collected insects. The initial phases of this research were funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7-PALMS program (FP7-ENB-2007-I) and by Universidad de los Andes. The final phase was funded by Universidad de La Salle under the project “Patrones de asociación entre insetos polinizadores y palmas silvestres en Colombia con enfasis en palmas de importancia economica.” This study is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Dr. Gloria Amparo Galeano, whose scientific legacy inspired many to deepen the knowledge about the palms of Colombia. 2 Genetic Resources Center, Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC), 13020-902 Campinas, Brazil. 3 Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Programa de Biología, Universidad de La Salle, 110231 Bogotá, Colombia. 4 Facultad de Ciencias y Biotecnología, Universidad CES, 050021 Medellín, Colombia. 5 Department of Systematics and Ecology, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 58051-900 João Pessoa, Brazil. * Author for correspondence: artur_campos_maia@yahoo.com.br
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Missouri Botanical Garden. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/10/1
Y1 - 2020/10/1
N2 - Solitary, dioecious, and mostly endemic to Andean cloud forests, wax palms (Ceroxylon Bonpl. ex DC. spp.) are currently under worrisome conservation status. The establishment of management plans for their dwindling populations rely on detailed biological data, including their reproductive ecology. As in the case of numerous other Neotropical palm taxa, small beetles are assumed to be selective pollinators of wax palms, but their identity and relevance in successful fruit yield were unknown. During three consecutive reproductive seasons we collected data on population phenology and reproductive and floral biology of three syntopic species of wax palms native to the Colombian Andes. We also determined the composition of the associated flower-visiting entomofauna, quantifying the extent of the role of individual species as effective pollinators through standardized value indexes that take into consideration abundance, constancy, and pollen transport efficiency. The studied populations of C. parvifrons (Engel) H. Wendl., C. ventricosum Burret, and C. vogelianum (Engel) H. Wendl. exhibit seasonal reproductive cycles with marked temporal patterns of flower and fruit production. The composition of the associated flower-visiting entomofauna, comprised by ca. 50 morphotypes, was constant across flowering seasons and differed only marginally among species. Nonetheless, a fraction of the insect species associated with pistillate inflorescences actually carried pollen, and calculated pollinator importance indexes demonstrated that one insect species alone, Mystrops rotundula Sharp, accounted for 94%-99% of the effective pollination services for all three species of wax palms. The sequential asynchronous flowering of C. parvifrons, C. ventricosum, and C. vogelianum provides an abundant and constant supply of pollen, pivotal for the maintenance of large populations of their shared pollinators, a cooperative strategy proven effective by high fruit yield rates (up to 79%). Reproductive success might be compromised for all species by the population decline of one of them, as it would tamper with the temporal orchestration of pollen offer.
AB - Solitary, dioecious, and mostly endemic to Andean cloud forests, wax palms (Ceroxylon Bonpl. ex DC. spp.) are currently under worrisome conservation status. The establishment of management plans for their dwindling populations rely on detailed biological data, including their reproductive ecology. As in the case of numerous other Neotropical palm taxa, small beetles are assumed to be selective pollinators of wax palms, but their identity and relevance in successful fruit yield were unknown. During three consecutive reproductive seasons we collected data on population phenology and reproductive and floral biology of three syntopic species of wax palms native to the Colombian Andes. We also determined the composition of the associated flower-visiting entomofauna, quantifying the extent of the role of individual species as effective pollinators through standardized value indexes that take into consideration abundance, constancy, and pollen transport efficiency. The studied populations of C. parvifrons (Engel) H. Wendl., C. ventricosum Burret, and C. vogelianum (Engel) H. Wendl. exhibit seasonal reproductive cycles with marked temporal patterns of flower and fruit production. The composition of the associated flower-visiting entomofauna, comprised by ca. 50 morphotypes, was constant across flowering seasons and differed only marginally among species. Nonetheless, a fraction of the insect species associated with pistillate inflorescences actually carried pollen, and calculated pollinator importance indexes demonstrated that one insect species alone, Mystrops rotundula Sharp, accounted for 94%-99% of the effective pollination services for all three species of wax palms. The sequential asynchronous flowering of C. parvifrons, C. ventricosum, and C. vogelianum provides an abundant and constant supply of pollen, pivotal for the maintenance of large populations of their shared pollinators, a cooperative strategy proven effective by high fruit yield rates (up to 79%). Reproductive success might be compromised for all species by the population decline of one of them, as it would tamper with the temporal orchestration of pollen offer.
KW - Cantharophily
KW - Ceroxylon
KW - Derelomini
KW - Mystrops
KW - Pollination ecology
KW - Pollinivory
KW - Reproductive efficiency
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U2 - 10.3417/2020590
DO - 10.3417/2020590
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85095874197
SN - 0026-6493
VL - 105
SP - 281
EP - 299
JO - Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden
JF - Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden
IS - 3
ER -