Population size, pollinator visitation and fruit production in the deceptive orchid Calypso bulbosa

Abstract

It has been proposed that in non-rewarding animal-pollinated plants the pollination intensity should decrease with increasing population size and should increase with increasing local abundance of reward-producing plants. To test these hypotheses, we examined how population size, local abundance of Salix caprea, and tree cover were related to pollen removal and fruit production in 16 populations of the deceptive, early-flowering and bumblebee-pollinated orchid Calypso bulbosa in northern Sweden in 3 consecutive years. To determine whether fruit production was limited by pollinator visitation, supplemental hand-pollinations were performed in three populations in 3 years. Finally, to examine whether increased fruit production was associated with a reduction in future flower production, vegetative growth or survival, supplemental hand-pollination was repeated for 5 years in one population. The levels of pollen export, pollen deposition, and fruit set of C. bulbosa varied considerably among years and among populations. The proportion of plants exporting pollen was negatively related to population size, and positively related to density of S. caprea and to tree cover in 1 of the 3 years. In the other 2 years, no significant relationship was detected between proportion of plants exporting pollen and the latter three variables. In no year was there a significant relationship between fruit set and population size, density of S. caprea and tree cover. There was substantial among-year variation in the extent to which fruit production was limited by insufficient pollen deposition and in the amount of weather-induced damage to flowers and developing fruits. Fruit set was consistently higher in hand-pollinated than in open-pollinated plants, but this difference was statistically significant in only one of 3 years. Supplemental hand-pollination in 5 consecutive years increased cumulative fruit production 1.8 times, but did not affect flower production, plant size, or survival. Tree cover was negatively correlated with the incidence of frost damage in 1 year. The results indicate that life-time seed production may be pollen limited in C. bulbosa, and that variation in population size and local abundance of the early-flowering, nectar-producing S. caprea can only partly explain the extensive variation in pollinator visitation among populations of this species.