Inflorescence Height Affects Visitation Behavior of Bees-A Case Study of an Aquatic Plant Community in Bolivia Export

@article{citeulike:523069, abstract = {We studied the bee fauna visiting a plant community of 10 species of flowering aquatic plants in an inundated savanna region in Bolivia. In total we observed 36 bee species in 17 genera at the flowers. Cluster analysis of the similarities among the plant species in terms of their visitor spectra showed a division into two groups: plants with inflorescence heights shorter than the grass height and plants with inflorescences projecting out of the surrounding vegetation. Larger bees of the genera Apis, Melipona, Bombus, and Xylocopa were observed only at flowers above the surrounding vegetation. Smaller, mainly solitary bees (e.g., Augochlorella, Ancyloscelis) visited flowers in the dense vegetation near the water surface. Analyses of the pollen loads revealed that most individuals were highly flower constant. When bees carried different pollen types, it was generally pollen from flowers within a single stratum. We discuss specialization, flower constancy, competition, and different foraging strategies as possible reasons for stratum fidelity.}, author = {Gumbert, Andreas and Kunze, Jan}, citeulike-article-id = {523069}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/2663942}, journal = {Biotropica}, keywords = {bee-apis, bee-bombus, bee-solitary, flower-height, pdfi, pollination, pollinator-behaviour}, number = {3}, pages = {466--477}, posted-at = {2006-02-26 21:34:56}, priority = {3}, title = {Inflorescence Height Affects Visitation Behavior of Bees-A Case Study of an Aquatic Plant Community in Bolivia}, url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/2663942}, volume = {31}, year = {1999} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:523069 L3 - citeulike-article-id:523069 N2 - We studied the bee fauna visiting a plant community of 10 species of flowering aquatic plants in an inundated savanna region in Bolivia. In total we observed 36 bee species in 17 genera at the flowers. Cluster analysis of the similarities among the plant species in terms of their visitor spectra showed a division into two groups: plants with inflorescence heights shorter than the grass height and plants with inflorescences projecting out of the surrounding vegetation. Larger bees of the genera Apis, Melipona, Bombus, and Xylocopa were observed only at flowers above the surrounding vegetation. Smaller, mainly solitary bees (e.g., Augochlorella, Ancyloscelis) visited flowers in the dense vegetation near the water surface. Analyses of the pollen loads revealed that most individuals were highly flower constant. When bees carried different pollen types, it was generally pollen from flowers within a single stratum. We discuss specialization, flower constancy, competition, and different foraging strategies as possible reasons for stratum fidelity. IS - 3 JF - Biotropica EP - 477 TI - Inflorescence Height Affects Visitation Behavior of Bees-A Case Study of an Aquatic Plant Community in Bolivia VL - 31 SP - 466 KW - bee-apis KW - bee-bombus KW - bee-solitary KW - flower-height KW - pdfi KW - pollination KW - pollinator-behaviour AU - Gumbert, Andreas AU - Kunze, Jan PY - 1999/// UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/2663942 ER -