Temporal Variation in Pollinators’ Visitation of Lantana camara in a Tropical Urban Landscape: Does Butterfly Abundance and Richness Drive the Fruit Set?

Abstract

Pollinator richness, abundance and visitation frequency may be affected by the abundance of floral resources and abiotic factors, influencing plant reproductive success. We analysed whether the diversity, abundance and frequency of butterfly visitation on Lantana camara vary across the year in a tropical urban landscape and whether this variation in butterfly community influences plant’s reproductive success. A two-period survey, referred to here as rainier and drier seasons, was carried out in 12 spatially independent plants. Five pollination treatments were applied: single visit, hand cross-pollination, hand self-pollination, spontaneous self-pollination and open pollination (control). A total of 15,749 flowers were used for fruit production analysis. Butterfly richness, abundance and the reproductive success of L. camara increased in the drier season. Open pollination was ninefold more reproductively successful during the drier season. Fruit production of hand cross-pollinated plants was threefold higher than open-pollinated plants during the rainier season. No significant difference was found between these treatments in the drier season, attesting the highest abundance of pollination during this period. We provide evidence that changes in the pollinator community affect fruit production. The increase in pollinator diversity allows different visitors to pollinate the plant, increasing fruit set through functional complementarity. This effort establishes baseline data of plant–pollinator interactions for further long-term investigations across different weather seasons. The understanding of L. camara and butterflies’ synergism will support conservation measures of pollinator populations.

Nectarivore butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) from an Urban Forest Fragment in Manaus, Amazonas

“…In the Amazon, the rainfall regime interferes with the richness of butterflies. The pattern found in other studies shows more species in the period of dry season (oliveiRa et al 2021;cézaR et al 2022). Our study was developed mostly in the rainy season, although we found increasing results, the number of species would probably be higher if the observations were extended to the following months, into the dry season.…”

Floral scent and pollination of the invasive plant Coreopsis lanceolata in Japan

“…However, due to the limited duration of our study, the conclusion regarding the functional specialization of halictid bees in C. lanceolata is preliminary. Previous studies in other plant species have shown that plant-pollinator interactions networks can exhibit temporal variation dynamics within and between flowering seasons (Traveset & Sáez 1997;Olesen et al 2008;Souza et al 2018;Cézar et al 2022). Therefore, further multi-year studies of C. lanceolata in its introduced range in Japan are necessary to assess the consistency and persistence of the observed plant-pollinator interactions.…”

Tropical cities research boundaries: a bibliometric analysis to bridge the gaps through multi-dimensional and cross-disciplinary features

“…The authors found that despite the negative impacts of urbanization, tropical urban areas can support a diverse array of pollinator species. Cézar et al (2022) also highlighted the importance of considering changes in pollinator communities and their impact on fruit production, emphasizing that the relationship between pollinators and plants must be considered in conservation efforts. These findings demonstrate the need for an effective pollinator conservation plan that considers these multiple factors.…”