Do introduced honeybees (apis mellifera, hymenoptera) provide full pollination service to bird-adapted Australian plants with small flowers? An experimental study of brachyloma ericoides (epacridaceae)

dc.contributor.authorCelebrezze, T.
dc.contributor.authorPaton, D.
dc.date.issued2004
dc.descriptionThe definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com
dc.description.abstractIn many previous studies of the effects of introduced honeybees on Australian ecosystems, it has been assumed that floral morphology is a primary factor determining whether introduced honeybees will be effective in pollinating endemic plants. Although both honeybees and birds contacted stigmas and anthers of the small-flowered Brachyloma ericoides (Epacridaceae), the exclusion of birds but not honeybees resulted in a significantly lower proportion of flowers producing capsules (12.3 ± 2 vs 21.0 ± 2%). This suggests that native birds contributed significantly to fruit set even though honeybees were much more frequent visitors to flowers (5–6 vs 0.7–2.5 times per day) and moved more frequently between plants (25 vs 12.2% of movements). Fruit set following exposure to birds and honeybees was very low compared with shrub species in general and may have been limited by the pre-emptive removal of pollen by the 10% of honeybees that actively collected pollen.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityThomas Celebrezze and David C. Paton
dc.identifier.citationAustral Ecology: a journal of ecology in the Southern Hemisphere, 2004; 29(2):129-136
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/j.1442-9993.2003.01328.x
dc.identifier.issn1442-9985
dc.identifier.issn1442-9993
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/1669
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherBlackwell Science Asia
dc.source.urihttp://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2003.01328.x
dc.subjectBird pollination
dc.subjectbreeding system
dc.subjectEricaceae
dc.subjectfruit production
dc.subjecthoney bees
dc.subjectMeliphagidae
dc.subjectpollen limitation
dc.subjectself-incompatibility
dc.subjectZosteropidae
dc.titleDo introduced honeybees (apis mellifera, hymenoptera) provide full pollination service to bird-adapted Australian plants with small flowers? An experimental study of brachyloma ericoides (epacridaceae)
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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