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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Lauderdale, Florida » Invasive Plant Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #202942
Title: Naturalized orchid bee pollinates resin reward flowers in Florida: novel and known mutualism.

Author
item Pemberton, Robert
item LIU, HONG - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Submitted to: Biotropica
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2008
Publication Date: 7/17/2008
Citation: Pemberton, R.W., Liu, H. 2008. Naturalized orchid bee pollinates resin reward flowers in Florida: novel and known mutualism.. Biotropica 40(6): 714-718.

Interpretive Summary: An orchid bee, Euglossa viridissima, recently naturalized in southern Florida. Orchid bees use resin to construct their nest cells and often obtain the needed resins from the flowers of Clusia and Dalechampia species, which produce resin as a reward for pollinators instead of nectar or pollen. We made observations of the bee to detect its collection of resin from the flowers of two species of Clusia and two species of Dalechampia. We also conducted pollination studies with these plants to determine if the orchid bee could be an effective pollinator. We demonstrated that the orchid bee collects resin from and pollinates three of these plants including 1) the newly naturalized D. scandens, which it pollinates in Mexico, 2) the ornamental D. aristolochiaefolia native to Ecuador, and 3) the ornamental C. lanceolata native to Brazil. It collects resin from the flowers of Clusia rosea, native to Florida, but does not pollinate the tree because the species is composed of only female plants which produce fruit without pollination. These pollination mutualisms may promote both the orchid bee and the three plant species it pollinates. The pollination of the D. scandens can cause it to become more abundant and better adapted to Florida and thus a more important weed. The pollination of the ornamental plants can potentially result in their naturalization in Florida. Some naturalized plants and animals are severe problems in Florida where they displace and disrupt native species and communities.

Technical Abstract: Females of an orchid bee, Euglossa viridissima, recently naturalized in southern Florida, routinely collect resin to construct their brood cells from the flowers of two Clusia and two Dalechampia species. The bee pollinates three of these species including: 1) the newly naturalized D. scandens, which it pollinates in Mexico, 2) the ornamental D. aristolochiaefolia native to Ecuador, and 3) the ornamental C. lanceolata native to Brazil, but not the apomictic Clusia rosea native to Florida.