Abstract

ESPINO-ESPINO, Judith; ROSAS, Fernando  and  CUEVAS-GARCIA, Eduardo. Temporal variation of floral visitors in two sympatric co-flowering Salvia species with contrasting pollination syndromes. Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2014, vol.85, n.1, pp.161-166. ISSN 2007-8706.  https://doi.org/10.7550/rmb.35248.

Pollination systems in Salvia are specialized, and species have been mainly classified as melittophilic (visited by bees) or ornithophilic, visited by birds. Both systems often occur in sympatry and species bloom simultaneously. This scenario allowed us to evaluate the correspondence between contrasting floral morphologies and functional groups of flower visitors, and their role in the coexistence of related plant species. We studied the degree of flowering overlap and its consequences on the diversity of flower visitors in S. plurispicata, a melithophilic species, and S. elegans, an ornithophilic species. During the 3 years of study, both species flowered simultaneously and S. plurispicata consistently produced from 3 to 7 times more flowers than S. elegans. Three hummingbird species and 3 bee species contributed to 93 and 6.7% of the visits to S. elegans, respectively. In S. plurispicata, 4 bee species contributed to 77.5% of the visits, while 22.5% of the visits were by hummingbirds. We found a strong association between flower pollination syndromes and functional groups of floral visitors to each plant species, which could explain the coexistence and co-flowering of Salvia species.

Keywords : floral characters; flower phenology; melithophily; ornithophily.

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