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Effect of diurnal vs. nocturnal pollinators and flower position on the reproductive success of Echium simplex

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Abstract

Nocturnal pollination plays an important role in sexual plant reproduction but has been overlooked, partially because of intrinsic difficulties in field experimentation. Even less attention has received the effect of within-inflorescence spatial position (distal or proximal) on nocturnal pollinators of columnar plants, despite numerous studies examining the relationship between such position and reproductive success. Woody endemic Echium simplex possesses large erect inflorescences bearing thousands of flowers which are visited by a wide array of diurnal and nocturnal animals. In this study, we identified nocturnal visitors and compared their pollination effectiveness with that of diurnal pollinators in different inflorescence sections by means of selective exclosures in NE Tenerife (Canary Islands). Nocturnal visitors included at least ten morphospecies of moths (such as Paradrina rebeli and Eupithecia sp.), two coleopteran species (mainly Alloxantha sp.), neuropterans (Chrysoperla carnea), dictyopterans (Phyllodromica brullei), dermapterans (Guanchia sp.) and julidans (Ommatoiulus moreletii). In general, plants excluded from pollinators set less fruits than open-pollination (control) plants which set fruits homogeneously across sections. Diurnally pollinated plants set more fruit in their upper parts whereas nocturnally pollinated plants set fruit in both upper and bottom sections. We conclude that although the frequency and diversity of diurnal pollinators is far higher than that of nocturnal pollinators, both exhibit different foraging behaviour that generates complementary effects on the reproductive success of E. simplex.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Marcos Báez and Antonio Pérez Delgado for insect identification, Benito Pérez Vispo for his technical assistance in the field, and Juana Pérez López for providing logistical support in Chamorga. We are also grateful to Servicio Administrativo de Medio Ambiente, Excmo. Cabildo Insular de Tenerife for permission (2016-01704) to work in Anaga Biosphere Reserve, Tenerife. The company Tagoro Medioambiente provided its greenhouse to perform the seedling emergence experiments; Manuel Martín helped us in the follow-up of the experiment. Julia Jaca was funded by a predoctoral fellowship from the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU13/05880) and by the unemployment benefit from the Ministerio de Trabajo, Migraciones y Seguridad Social. The study was framed within a project financed by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (CGL2017-88122-P) to Anna Traveset.

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  1. Global Change Research Group, Institut Mediterrani D’Estudis Avançats IMEDEA (CSIC- UIB), C/Miquel Marqués 21, E07190-Esporles, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain

    Julia Jaca & Anna Traveset

  2. Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Instituto de Productos Naturales Y Agrobiología (CSIC-IPNA), C/Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez 3, E38206, La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain

    Manuel Nogales

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  1. Julia Jaca
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Jaca, J., Nogales, M. & Traveset, A. Effect of diurnal vs. nocturnal pollinators and flower position on the reproductive success of Echium simplex. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 14, 409–419 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-020-09759-4

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