Pollination in small islands by occasional visitors: the case of Daucus carota subsp. commutatus (Apiaceae) in the Columbretes archipelago, Spain

Abstract

This study investigates the pollination ecology and related floral traits of the species Daucus carota subsp. commutatus in the isolated archipelago of Columbretes, E. Spain, where bees are absent. Two populations were studied: a small population found on a relatively large island (Grossa) inhabited nowadays by three people; and a larger population on a smaller uninhabited island (Foradada). The plant, found also in other rocky coastal enclaves of the west Mediterranean, is totally self-compatible, andromonoecious, exhibiting strong protandrous dichogamy and sequential flowering of umbel orders, with limited probability of self pollination at the plant level. Pollination on both study islands is carried out solely by flies, mainly by Eristalis tenax (Syrphidae), a long distance visitor and efficient pollinator, but irregular migrant to the archipelago; and Lucilia sericata (Calliphoridae), an abundant flower visitor but less efficient pollinator dependent on human and avian wastes for its larval C. Pé rez-Bañ ó n Á Mª Á . Marcos-García

Nectaries and male-biased nectar production in protandrous flowers of a perennial umbellifer Angelica sylvestris L. (Apiaceae)

“…Our study species produced nectar during both flower sexual phases, as commonly found in other dichogamous species of Apiaceae (Koul et al 1989(Koul et al , 1993Davila and Wardle 2002;Langenberger and Davis 2002;Pérez-Bañón et al 2007;Zych 2007). Differences in nectar sugar concentration between years (a decrease noted particularly in female stage) were probably caused by weather conditions.…”

Fly pollination of dichogamous Angelica sylvestris (Apiaceae): how (functionally) specialized can a (morphologically) generalized plant be?

“…Among European umbellifers a similar system can be found, for instance, in Daucus carota subsp. commutatus (Pérez-Bañón et al 2007), and Heracleum sphondylium (Zych 2007) or North American and Mexican Eryngium species (Cruden and Hermann-Parker 1977;Molano-Flores 2001). It is suggested that in self-compatible plants such as many Apiaceae (see, e.g., Molano-Flores 2001;Davila and Wardle 2002), it acts as a behavioral mechanism of self-incompatibility (Cruden 1988).…”

Myophily in the critically endangered umbelliferous plant Ostericum palustre Besser (Apiaceae)

“…commutatus, Calliphorid flies (mostly Lucilia) accounted for approx. 67 % of visits, whereas syrphids (especially Eristalis tenax) were by far the most effective pollinators, but were responsible for only 16 % of visits (Pérez-Bañón et al 2007). This shows that the hypothesis proposed by some researchers (Gómez and Zamora 1992;Morris 2003;Vázquez et al 2005), namely, that visit rate is a good surrogate of pollinator performance, should be treated with caution, as it is true only for some plant species (see e.g.…”

“…Diptera are also important pollinators of umbellifers on remote islands (Pérez-Bañón et al 2007), and on other continents (e.g. Brookes and Jesson 2007;Danderson and MolanoFlores 2010).…”