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AOBPreview originally published online on May 23, 2009
Annals of Botany 2009 104(1):33-39; doi:10.1093/aob/mcp104
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Differential effects of nectar robbing by the same bumble-bee species on three sympatric Corydalis species with varied mating systems

Yan-Wen Zhang1,3,*, Qian Yu2, Ji-Min Zhao3 and You-Hao Guo2

1 Eastern Liaoning University, Dandong, 118003, China
2 College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China
3 Changchun Normal University, Changchun, 130032, China

* For correspondence. Email yanwen0209{at}163.com

Received: 2 February 2009    Returned for revision: 27 February 2009    Accepted: 6 March 2009    Published electronically: 25 May 2009

Background and Aims: Most research on the widespread phenomenon of nectar robbing has focused on the effect of the nectar robbers' behaviour on host-plant fitness. However, attention also needs be paid to the characteristics of host plants, which can potentially influence the consequences of nectar robbing as well. A system of three sympatric Corydalis species sharing the same nectar-robbing bumble-bee was therefore studied over 3 years in order to investigate the effect of nectar robbing on host reproductive fitness.

Methods: Three perennial species of Corydalis were studied in the Shennongjia Mountain area, central China. Observations were conducted on visitor behaviour and visitation frequencies of nectar-robbers and legitimate pollinators.

Key Results: The results indicated that the effect of nectar robbing by Bombus pyrosoma varied among species, and the three species had different mating systems. Seed set was thus influenced differentially: there was no effect on seed set of the predominantly selfing C. tomentella; for the facultative outcrossing C. incisa, nectar robbing by B. pyrosoma had a positive effect; and nectar robbing had a significant negative effect on the seed set of outcrossing C. ternatifolia.

Conclusions: A hypothesis is proposed that the type of host-plant mating system could influence the consequences of nectar robbing on host reproductive fitness.

Key words: Nectar robbing, Corydalis, reproductive fitness, bumble-bee, Bombus pyrosoma, mating systems


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