Abstract
The functioning and upkeep of trophic chains in ecosystems, as well as the patterns and processes that shape biodiversity in the world, have all been attributed mostly to interactions between plants and animals. Wild plants play a very critical role by harboring the flagship species as native insect pollinators. Isodon coetsa is a suitable model to study differences in pollinator foraging behavior since it produces a large number of flowers that provide both nectar and pollen. Very few studies on understanding the diversity of flower visitors of Isodon plants have been performed. Our study recorded a total of 50 species of insects belonging to 36 genera, 18 families and 5 orders as the flower visitors of I. coetsa plants. Six functional groups of flower visiting insects were recorded during the present study viz. bees, vespids, butterflies, flies, beetles and bugs. Hymenoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera were the most flower visiting insects recorded. Overall our study demonstrates the taxonomic diversity of insect flower visitors in a non-crop wild plant. Our results on ethological studies show functional synchronization of selected bee species in terms of flower handling time and overall visitation rates. Temporal variations of different insect flower visitors during the peak blooming time concludes the variation on the resource usage. On the avenue of resource utilization pattern of overall insect visitors, the majority were found to be dependent on nectar (61.54%) whereas the remaining gets both the nectar and pollen (38.46%). This observation depicts the role of I. coetsa in the local ecosystem as an essential resource provider to maintain local insect flower visitor diversity.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dr. Dhriti Banerjee, Director, Zoological Survey of India, for providing facilities and encouragement. We also like to thank the eminent expert taxonomists of Zoological Survey of India for taxonomic identifications. Thanks are due to local people, without whom the study would be incomplete. We express sincere gratitude towards the forest department and Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh for providing necessary permissions and logistical support during the study. We also like to thank Michael Kuhlmann, Micheal Terzo for help in bee species identifications. DG expresses his gratitude for financial support to CSIR-HRDG through SRF-Direct scheme (09/1181/(0015)/2020-EMR-I).
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Ghosh, D., Chatterjee, P., Karjee, R. et al. Flower Visitor Assemblage and Foraging Profile of a Pollinator Attractant Non-crop Plant Isodon coetsa (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) Kudô from Eastern Himalayas, India. Proc Zool Soc 76, 321–333 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12595-023-00498-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12595-023-00498-x