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Effectiveness of buzz pollination in Pedicularis chamissonis: significance of multiple visits by bumblebees

  • Original Article
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Ecological Research

Abstract

Pollination success of plants is highly susceptible to the frequency of visits and foraging behavior of pollinators. Pollination of the nectarless flowers of Pedicularis species depends on bumblebee workers collecting pollen by vibrating the anthers (buzz pollination). However, little is known about the efficiency of the pollination system. Foraging behavior, pollen removal from anthers and pollen deposition on stigmas of P. chamissonis were studied to assess the effectiveness of buzz pollination in an alpine snowbed population of northern Japan. Although bumblebees tended to visit most of the flowers open at a given time within inflorescences during a single visit, pollen removal rate at the first visit was about 20%, and buzzing period decreased with increasing number of previous visits, resulting in a decreasing proportion of pollen removed per visit as the number of visits increased. These trends enable plants to provide pollen for more pollinators. The number of pollen grains deposited on stigmas was not saturated during the first visit and increased with additional visits. Irrespective of weak self-compatibility, evidence of interference between self and outcross pollen was lacking for seed production. Therefore, buzz pollination in P. chamissonis acts as a mechanism that improves the chance of cross-pollination upon multiple visits if pollinator visitation is frequent.

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Acknowledgments

We greatly thank two anonymous reviewers for helping to improve an earlier version of the manuscript. We also thank Y. Kameyama for field assistance, T. Kubo for assistance in data analysis, T. Kohyama and T. Takada for their suggestions, and T.Y. Ida for laboratory technical advice. This study was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan (no. 16370007) and by a grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Environment for the Global Environment Research Fund (F-052).

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  1. Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060–0810, Japan

    Yuka Kawai & Gaku Kudo

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  1. Yuka Kawai
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  2. Gaku Kudo
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Correspondence to Yuka Kawai.

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Kawai, Y., Kudo, G. Effectiveness of buzz pollination in Pedicularis chamissonis: significance of multiple visits by bumblebees. Ecol Res 24, 215–223 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-008-0500-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-008-0500-6

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