Abstract
(1) Background: Cardiocrinum cordatum (Thunb.) Makino (Liliaceae) is a forest perennial herb distributed in East Asia. Although flower visitors for this plant species have been well reported, their contribution to pollination remains unknown. (2) Methods: We evaluated pollination contribution for visitors of C. cordatum flowers in a natural cool temperate forest. We investigated visiting frequency, the number of pollen grains per body surface, fruit set, and the mean number of seeds per fruit produced after a single visit of each visiting species. Combining the results of these experiments, we determined the most important pollinators of this species. (3) Results: For the population investigated in the study, the three most essential pollinators were the bumblebee (Bombus diversus tersatus) (Apidae), sweat bee (Halictidae sp.), and marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) (Syrphidae). Additionally, we found that the contribution of a flower-visiting ant species (Myrmica ruginodis Nylander (s.l.)) (Formicidae) is small. (4) Conclusions: Pollinator contributions differed among flower visitors. Our results underscore the insufficiency of current information about flower-visiting species to evaluate pollination contribution.
Highlights
The maintenance of genetic diversity is important for the conservation of wild plant species, and successful cross-pollination plays a major role in gene flow to maintain the genetic diversity of plant populations [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9], especially when a population is fragmented [5,6,7,8,9,10]
Our results suggest that bumblebees
Bombus tersatus]), which feed on both nectar [54] and pollen [55], are the most important pollinators for this species for the population investigated in the present study
Summary
The maintenance of genetic diversity is important for the conservation of wild plant species, and successful cross-pollination plays a major role in gene flow to maintain the genetic diversity of plant populations [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9], especially when a population is fragmented [5,6,7,8,9,10]. For animal-pollinated flowers, pollination effectiveness differs among visitors of different species [3,5,12,13,14,15,19,29]. Some visitors obtain pollen or nectar from flowers without contributing as pollinators for some plant species, phenomena known as pollen or nectar theft [30], or nectar robbing for cases where a visitor damages a flower [31]. The information on flower-visiting frequency may not be sufficient to evaluate the pollinator contribution of each animal species. It is necessary to identify which species significantly contribute as pollinators for specific plants
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