Flowering phenology and pollination of ornithophilous species in two habitats of Serra da Bodoquena, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe interactions between hummingbirds and ornithophilous species at Serra da Bodoquena in midwest Brazil, with focus on flowering phenology and pollination of these plant species. In two habitats, gallery forest and semi-deciduous forest, data on flowering phenology of ornithophilous species were collected monthly over 14 months. In addition, data on morphology and floral biology, as well as visitor frequency and hummingbird behavior, were recorded. The studied community contained eight ornithophilous plant species and six hummingbird species. The ornithophilous species flowered throughout the year, and the greatest abundance of flowers was at the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the dry one. The hermit hummingbird Phaethornis pretrei and females of Thalurania furcata, were the most similar in floral resource use. Acanthaceae is the most representative family of ornithophilous plant species in Serra da Bodoquena and, thus, represents the main food source for hummingbirds. Ruellia angustiflora is especially important because it flowers continuously throughout the year and is a significant food resource for P. pretrei, which is the main visitor for this plant guild.

Check-List of Bromeliaceae From Mato Grosso Do Sul, Brazil

“…Benzing 2000a). In MS, bromeliads are important sources of nectar for birds, as is the case of Ananas ananassoides and Bromelia balansae (Araújo & Sazima 2003, Faria & Araújo 2010. Some specimens examined here had annotations that indicated characteristics of plant populations.…”

Polinização e sistema reprodutivo de Acanthaceae Juss. no Brasil: uma revisão

“…Vários autores (e.g., HERRERA, 1998;MAYFIELD et al, 2001;OLLERTON et al, 2009) VAN DER PIJL, 1979) se torna ainda mais interessante quando aplicado às comunidades ecológicas, sendo considerada uma importante ferramenta preliminar para fazer previsões sobre a participação relativa dos grupos de polinizadores, como por exemplo, as espécies ornitófilas (BUZATO et al, 2000;LOPES, 2002;LEAL et al, 2006;ARAÚJO, 2010a;BUENO, 2012).…”

Effects of Environmental Heterogeneity on the Composition of Insect Trophic Guilds

“…The rocky substrate is covered by one of the last remnants of vegetation of the plateau and is characterized by the predominance of seasonal deciduous and semi-deciduous forest (Boggiani et al, 1999). Savanna and gallery forest physiognomies are also found (Faria and Araújo, 2010).…”