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Pollinators of Eucalyptus regnans (Myrtaceae), the world's tallest flowering plant species
Citation
Griffin, AR and Hingston, AB and Ohmart, CP, Pollinators of Eucalyptus regnans (Myrtaceae), the world's tallest flowering plant species, Australian Journal of Botany, 57, (1) pp. 18-25. ISSN 0067-1924 (2009) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2009 CSIRO
Official URL: http://www.publish.csiro.au
DOI: doi:10.1071/BT08168
Abstract
Insect visitors to the flowers of Eucalyptus regnans F.Muell. in a remnant natural stand were classified into
33 functional pollinator groups according to taxonomic affinity and body size. In total, 92% of insects caught were dipterans;
however, most of these were small and did not contribute significantly to pollination. For the majority of taxa, which have
short mouthparts and therefore need to intrude themselves into the flower while feeding on nectar, there was a highly
significant relationship between body length and the number of E. regnans pollen grains carried on the body. Mean pollen
loads ranged from 20 grains per insect for sepsidflies to 84 000 for large tachinidflies.Anindex of pollen-deposition potential,
which is based on population size and pollen load, suggested that the larger tachinid, calliphorid and syrphid flies were the
most important pollen vectors and that larger sphecid wasps also played a significant role. Many taxa appeared to contribute
little to pollination because they were uncommon and/or did not carry large quantities of pollen. A convention is proposed
whereby groups are weighted according to their contribution to total pollen-deposition potential. For E. regnans, a ratio of
5 Diptera/1 Hymenoptera + (Coleoptera/Lepidoptera) is described, with the taxa in parentheses contributing less than 10%
of the total.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Population ecology |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Terrestrial systems and management |
Objective Field: | Terrestrial biodiversity |
UTAS Author: | Griffin, AR (Professor Rod Griffin) |
UTAS Author: | Hingston, AB (Mr Andrew Hingston) |
ID Code: | 59955 |
Year Published: | 2009 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 9 |
Deposited By: | Plant Science |
Deposited On: | 2009-12-23 |
Last Modified: | 2010-05-10 |
Downloads: | 1 View Download Statistics |
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