Pollination Ecology ofPedicularisin the Teton Mountain Region

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A field study of the pollination ecology ofPedicularis bractaosa, P. contorta, P. groenlandica, P. proceraandP. racemosawas conducted in the Grand Teton Mountain area of North America. A total of 875 pollinating bumblebees (BombusLatr.), including pollinators ofMimulus lewisii, Aconitum columbianumandEpilobium angustifolium, was collected and identified, and 575 corbicular pollen loads from them were microscopically analyzed. Pollinating behavior of insects was photographically recorded. The queen‐to‐worker ratio of pollinators onPedicularisspecies decreased as the season progressed. Overall pollen‐foraging constancy onPedicularisranged from 59% to 85% with a mean value of 74% for queens and 66% for workers. Highest frequencies of the nine bumblebee species onPediculariswere 48% nectar/pollen foragingB. flavifrons+B. mixtusqueens onP. bracteosa, and 72% pollen‐foragingB. occidentalisworkers onP. procera.Unlike the nectariferousP. proceraflowers in the Colorado Rocky Mountains pollinated by hummingbirds and bumblebees, those in the Teton Mountains were nectarless and pollinated only by bumblebees. The pollination adaptation of thesePedicularisspecies in their respective communities suggests a product of continuing natural selection.