The Effectiveness of Pollinators and Their Foraging Behavior on Neustanthus Phaseoloides (Fabaceae)

Overview

Journal Naturwissenschaften

Specialty Science

Date 2025 Feb 20

PMID 39976682

Authors

Suman Paul

Tanushree Singha

Riya Roy

Osunam Tayeng

Engchong Sangdo

Prasenjit Debbarma

Bhushan B Dholakia

Badal Kumar Datta

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Insect pollination is critical for the reproduction of crops and wild plants, yet the efficiency of pollinators varies widely across species. Hence, it is essential to study the visitation behavior and pollination effectiveness of the floral visitors. Neustanthus phaseoloides is an agro-ecologically and medicinally important plant occurring in Tripura, Northeast India. We selected it for the present investigation as its distinct floral morphology might impact the pollinator visitation behaviors and subsequent pollination success. A total of 12 insect foragers visited the flowers of N. phaseoloides. Among them, 10 generalist pollinators were observed depositing conspecific pollen along with some amount of heterospecific pollen grains on the stigma. Although the pollen deposition efficiency varied significantly among pollinator species, the bees were the most effective in pollen deposition and subsequent reproductive outputs. All pollinators contributed to the fruit and seed production at varying degrees, indicating their effectiveness in reproductive success. The mating system studies indicated that the species was self-compatible and dependent on pollinators for increased reproductive success. Furthermore, some degree of pollination deficit was detected in our study population, suggesting that the increased visitation of effective pollinators might enhance the reproductive outputs. Overall, this first report on the pollination effectiveness of N. phaseoloides will improve our understanding of the reproductive success in a medicinally useful wild plant.

References

Arceo-Gomez G, Abdala-Roberts L, Jankowiak A, Kohler C, Meindl G, Navarro-Fernandez C . Patterns of among- and within-species variation in heterospecific pollen receipt: The importance of ecological generalization. Am J Bot. 2015; 103(3):396-407. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1500155. View

Biesmeijer J, Roberts S, Reemer M, Ohlemuller R, Edwards M, Peeters T . Parallel declines in pollinators and insect-pollinated plants in Britain and the Netherlands. Science. 2006; 313(5785):351-4. DOI: 10.1126/science.1127863. View

Brosi B, Briggs H . Single pollinator species losses reduce floral fidelity and plant reproductive function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013; 110(32):13044-8. PMC: 3740839. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1307438110. View

Cane J, Schiffhauer D . Dose-response relationships between pollination and fruiting refine pollinator comparisons for cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon [Ericaceae]). Am J Bot. 2011; 90(10):1425-32. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.90.10.1425. View

Cordoba S, Cocucci A . Flower power: its association with bee power and floral functional morphology in papilionate legumes. Ann Bot. 2011; 108(5):919-31. PMC: 3177674. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcr196. View

Endress P . Evolution of floral symmetry. Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2001; 4(1):86-91. DOI: 10.1016/s1369-5266(00)00140-0. View

Herrera C . Pollinator abundance, morphology, and flower visitation rate: analysis of the "quantity" component in a plant-pollinator system. Oecologia. 2017; 80(2):241-248. DOI: 10.1007/BF00380158. View

Jaca J, Nogales M, Traveset A . Reproductive success of the Canarian Echium simplex (Boraginaceae) mediated by vertebrates and insects. Plant Biol (Stuttg). 2018; 21(2):216-226. DOI: 10.1111/plb.12926. View

Larsson M . Higher pollinator effectiveness by specialist than generalist flower-visitors of unspecialized Knautia arvensis (Dipsacaceae). Oecologia. 2005; 146(3):394-403. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-005-0217-y. View

10.

Mitchell R, Flanagan R, Brown B, Waser N, Karron J . New frontiers in competition for pollination. Ann Bot. 2009; 103(9):1403-13. PMC: 2701753. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcp062. View

11.

Neeman G, Jurgens A, Newstrom-Lloyd L, Potts S, Dafni A . A framework for comparing pollinator performance: effectiveness and efficiency. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2009; 85(3):435-51. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00108.x. View

12.

Neuschulz E, Mueller T, Schleuning M, Bohning-Gaese K . Pollination and seed dispersal are the most threatened processes of plant regeneration. Sci Rep. 2016; 6:29839. PMC: 4951728. DOI: 10.1038/srep29839. View

13.

Olsen K . Pollination effectiveness and pollinator importance in a population of Heterotheca subaxillaris (Asteraceae). Oecologia. 2017; 109(1):114-121. DOI: 10.1007/PL00008811. View

14.

Rodriguez-Rodriguez M, Jordano P, Valido A . Quantity and quality components of effectiveness in insular pollinator assemblages. Oecologia. 2013; 173(1):179-90. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-013-2606-y. View

15.

Valverde J, Perfectti F, Gomez J . Pollination effectiveness in a generalist plant: adding the genetic component. New Phytol. 2019; 223(1):354-365. DOI: 10.1111/nph.15743. View

16.

Wang H, Cao G, Wang L, Yang Y, Zhang Z, Duan Y . Evaluation of pollinator effectiveness based on pollen deposition and seed production in a gynodieocious alpine plant, . Ecol Evol. 2017; 7(20):8156-8160. PMC: 5648671. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3391. View

17.

Wei N, Kaczorowski R, Arceo-Gomez G, ONeill E, Hayes R, Ashman T . Pollinators contribute to the maintenance of flowering plant diversity. Nature. 2021; 597(7878):688-692. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03890-9. View

18.

Wong K, Li G, Li K, Razmovski-Naumovski V, Chan K . Kudzu root: traditional uses and potential medicinal benefits in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. J Ethnopharmacol. 2011; 134(3):584-607. DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2011.02.001. View

19.

Zhang H, Huang J, Williams P, Vaissiere B, Zhou Z, Gai Q . Managed bumblebees outperform honeybees in increasing peach fruit set in China: different limiting processes with different pollinators. PLoS One. 2015; 10(3):e0121143. PMC: 4370422. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121143. View