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Seed set differs in relation to pollen and nectar foraging flower visitors in an insect‐pollinated herb
Author(s) -
Franzén Markus,
Larsson Magnus
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
nordic journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.333
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1756-1051
pISSN - 0107-055X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-1051.2009.00348.x
Subject(s) - biology , halictidae , pollination , pollinator , pollen , foraging , megachilidae , nectar , botany , apoidea , hand pollination , pollen source , insect , ecology , hymenoptera
Assessing the relative contributions to seed sets of each of a plant species’ floral visitors provides an indication of the relative influence of these visitors on the plants’ reproductive success. In this study we compared the seed set of the gynodioecious Knautia arvensis (Dipsacaceae) in 49 local plant populations in two regions of southern Sweden. We measured the seed set for hermaphroditic and female plant individuals. In both plant sexes and both regions, the seed set was positively related to the abundance of Apidae. The seed set was negatively related to the abundance of pollen‐foraging solitary bees (Halictidae, Megachilidae) and beetles (Oedemeridae, Malachidae). The seed set was not related to plant population size, plant density or female frequency. Our results confirm that pollination success in generalised plant–pollinator systems varies between pollinator groups. Flower‐visitors foraging for pollen might not contribute to increased pollination success in generalised pollination systems.