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Quantity versus quality: identifying the most effective pollinators of the hummingbird-pollinated Vriesea rodigasiana (Bromeliaceae)

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Abstract

Although hummingbirds are considered the major bromeliad pollinators, different species may contribute differently to pollination. This study analyses the importance of different hummingbirds to pollination of Vriesea rodigasiana (Bromeliaceae), based on visitation frequency (a quantity component) and germinated pollen load per visit (a quality component) in the Atlantic rainforest of southeastern Brazil. This bromeliad flowers for 3–4 months with a peak in March. Its yellow, tubular flowers last about 13 h and demonstrate approach herkogamy. During flowering peak, Thalurania glaucopis visited more flowers than Ramphodon naevius, whereas by the end of the flowering season the latter visited more. Differences in hummingbird bill length resulted in different pollen placement and stigma contact. The short-billed T. glaucopis received pollen on the top of its head, depositing it on the center of the stigma, while the long-billed R. naevius received it on the proximal part of its bill, depositing it on the lower lobe of the stigma. Flowers visited by T. glaucopis had six times more pollen tubes than those visited by R. naevius. Our results suggest that this functional group of hummingbirds may be split into even smaller groups, namely short-billed and long-billed hummingbirds, based on different sites of pollen placement. Although both species were pollen vectors of V. rodigasiana, the short-billed T. glaucopis was its most effective pollinator in the area supporting Stebbin’s principle, linking floral features and good pollinators.

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Notes

  1. According to Inouye et al. (1994) the term pollinator efficiency or effectiveness has already been used by many authors and in many different meanings since 1972.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Iara F. Bressan for technical help in the lab; the staff of the Parque Estadual Carlos Botelho/IF for logistics and help in the field, especially to Mr. Tércio for hospitality and many coffee cups. ER Forni-Martins, MAS Alves, AC Araujo, L Freitas, L Galetto, S Johnson for critical reading of early versions of this manuscript, and anonymous referees whose suggestions improved this last version. This study was partially supported by the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) within the BIOTA/FAPESP. The Biodiversity Institute Program (www.biota.org.br) and the “Parcelas Permanentes” project, as well as by Coordenação de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundo de Apoio ao Ensino e à Pesquisa (FAEP)/Funcamp/Unicamp and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Brazil. This study is part of M.A. Rocca Doctoral thesis at the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Vegetal, Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), São Paulo, Brasil. MAR dedicates this paper to the memory of her godfather Rogério Moulin, who always took her hand to show her the plants in their garden.

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  1. Departamento de Ciências Biológicas (DCB), Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC), Campus Soane Nazaré de Andrade, Pavilhão Jorge Amado, Km 16, Rod. Ilhéus-Itabuna, Ilhéus, BA, CEP 45650-000, Brazil

    Márcia A. Rocca

  2. Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Caixa Postal 6109, Campinas, SP, CEP 13083-970, Brazil

    Marlies Sazima

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  1. Márcia A. Rocca
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Correspondence to Márcia A. Rocca.

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Rocca, M.A., Sazima, M. Quantity versus quality: identifying the most effective pollinators of the hummingbird-pollinated Vriesea rodigasiana (Bromeliaceae). Plant Syst Evol 299, 97–105 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-012-0706-5

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