Early spring floral foraging resources for pollinators in wet heathlands in Belgium
(2015) Journal of Insect Conservation : an international journal devoted to the conservation of inects and related invertebrates — Vol. septembre, p. 1-12 (2015)
Files
earlyspring2015.pdf
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 934.92 KB
Details
- Authors
- Abstract
- In temperate regions, foraging resources for pollinating insects are particularly important in early spring, especially for social insects like bumblebees that are initiating colonies. Heathlands, protected open habitats under EU law, provide floral resources (pollen and nectar) for a range of pollinating insects. In early spring, in Belgian heathlands, only two floral resources are available: willows Salix spp. (Salicaceae) and bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus (Ericaceae). Our objective was to assess whether these two plant species provide quantitative and qualitative resources during early spring. We examined the springtime activity of flower visitors on both S. x multinervis and V. myrtillus flowers in relation to sugar concentration and composition in nectar as well as composition of polypeptides and amino acids in pollen. The chemical composition of pollen differed significantly between the two plant species. Salix x multinervis offered pollen with higher polypeptide and essential amino acid contents than V. myrtillus. However, nectar quantities of V. myrtillus flowers were relatively high compared to S. x multinervis. During the overlapping flowering period of the two plant species, flower visitors seemed to favor high quality and easily accessible pollen of S. x multinervis species and visited V. myrtillus mainly for nectar resources.
- Affiliations
Citations
Moquet, L., Mayer, C., Michez, D., Wathelet, B., & Jacquemart, A.-L. (2015). Early spring floral foraging resources for pollinators in wet heathlands in Belgium. Journal of Insect Conservation : an international journal devoted to the conservation of inects and related invertebrates, septembre, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-015-9802-5 (Original work published 2015)