Pollination ecology of Disterigma stereophyllum (Ericaceae) in south‐western Colombia

Abstract

Several authors have recently expressed doubts that the 'pollination syndromes' as usually expressed are an adequate description of correlated suites of floral characters, or that they adequately describe evolutionary or ecological associations of plants with pollinators. Disterigma stereophyllum is a neotropical Ericaceae with floral characteristics intermediate between the 'entomophilous' syndrome and the 'ornithophilous' syndrome: the corolla is short, white and urceolate, but flowers produce large amounts of dilute nectar. We studied the pollination ecology of this species in south-western Colombia, and found it to be pollinated almost exclusively by hummingbirds at our study site. Two hummingbird species were responsible for about 75 of visits. Despite the fact that nectar standing crop remained more or less constant throughout the day, visit frequencies were highest in the morning and declined throughout the day. Pollinator efficiency, measured as the number of pollen grains deposited on a virgin stigma by each visitor after one visit, did not differ among the species of hummingbirds, but was lower for a nectar-robbing bird, Diglossa albilatera. This species does not contact the surface of the stigma during nectar robbing, but can produce some self-pollination indirectly because it shakes branches vigorously while piercing the flower. These findings indicate a need for further studies of neotropical Ericaceae in order to elucidate whether floral visitors of species like D. stereophyllum fluctuate through time or space, and whether floral characteristics reflect a compromise between such different visitors, or a transitional stage between pollination syndromes, or some other possibility.