Bee diversity on nectarful and nectarless honey mesquites

Abstract

Nectar production has been proposed as an adaptation to attract pollinators that benefit from this resource. Energetic investments may be expensive, so some species such as Prosopis glandulosa have developed a dimorphic system of nectar production, which is expected to affect floral visitor behaviour and then plant fitness. We quantified bee diversity during a 2 year period in a population of the honey mesquite in order to determine changes in bee diversity due to the presence of nectar, bee preferences to collect either nectar of pollen, and to determine between year variations of bee faunas. Floral visitors were captured at three different times of the day during the flowering seasons of 1994 and 1995, in a population of Prosopis glandulosa which has a 1:1 proportion of nectar: nectarless individuals. Pollinators were clearly distinct between nectar morphs, bee species diversity and relative abundance of visits were significantly greater on nectarful than on nectarless plants, with species on nectarless individuals being a subset of those in the nectarful morph. Our results suggest differences in the function of floral rewards (i.e., nectar and pollen) to attract floral visitors. For the Chihuahuan arid environment, mesquite provides floral rewards with ease, quantity and quality for close to 10% of all bee fauna making them important components of these communities.