scholarly journals New records of pollinators and other insects associated with Arizona milkweed, Asclepias angustifolia, at four sites in Southeastern Arizona

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Aaron Behrstock

Asclepias angustifolia is a Mexican milkweed that barely enters the U.S.A. Its pollinators and other insect visitors have not been investigated. During 2018 and 2019, insect visitors were photographed at a native population and three gardens in and near the Huachuca Mountains, Southeastern Arizona. A total of 216 site visits produced at least 369 species of insects in seven orders. Images revealed 140 potential pollinators with a preponderance of Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, and Diptera. Orders of insects are discussed, as are flowering phenology, potential pollinators in functional groups, introduced insects, and the value of A. angustifolia for monarch butterflies and other insects in pollinator gardens and in planting palettes created for restoration sites. NOTE: Supplementary files can be found in the left menu. 

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (8) ◽  
pp. 1072-1079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ørjan Totland

Pollination studies in European alpine communities are few. The objective of this study was to describe the pollination ecology in two alpine plant communities at Finse, southwestern Norway. Because of late snowmelt and early winter at Finse, the time available for flowering and seed maturation is restricted. Flowering was concentrated at the beginning of the season in both communities, and large overlaps in flowering time were found for most species. In one of the communities, flowering peaks were significantly clumped, whereas in the other they were randomly distributed through the season. However, in this community, five insect-pollinated species flowered simultaneously early in the season. Diptera almost exclusively dominated the visitor assemblage. Most plant species pairs had high overlaps in flower visitor species. Species flowering simultaneously attracted the same visitor species. In one community, eight species pairs flowered sequentially and shared visitors. Visitation rates were highest at the lowest elevated site. The results are compared with those obtained in other alpine areas. It is argued that selection for an early flowering is probably stronger than selection pressures resulting from interspecific interactions. Key words: alpine, Diptera, flowering phenology, flower visitors, season length, visitation rate.


2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catharina Alves-de-Souza ◽  
Mariângela Menezes ◽  
Vera Huszar

This paper presents the composition and functional groups of the phytoplankton from Comprida lagoon, a tropical humic coastal Lagoon located in Southeast Brazil. A total of 28 taxa was found, distributed in eight taxonomic divisions as follows: 26% Heterokontophyta, 21% Chlorophyta, 21% Cyanophyta, 14% Bacillariophyta, 14% Cryptophyta, and 4% Prymnesiophyta. Twenty-three taxa were identified at the specific and infraspecific levels, from which four are new records for Brazil and two for Rio de Janeiro State. Phytoplankton of the Comprida lagoon was comprised of several flagellates, but also eukaryote and prokaryote picoplankton, filamentous cyanobacteria and several diatoms. The biomass was lower than that found in other lacustrine systems, and showed remarkable temporal variability. According to the functional-group approach, the populations formed eight groups: Q, Z, E, N, X3, X2, S1 and Y, most typical of oligo- or mesotrophic systems, tolerant to nutrient deficiency and sensitive to increased pH.


2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Denham ◽  
Robert J. Whelan

Lomatia silaifolia (Smith) R.Br. (Proteaceae) is a common shrub in southeastern Australian bushland that generally flowers only once after each fire. However, little is known of the details of this post-fire flowering. Lomatia silaifolia has flowers well-spaced along its conflorescence axis, unlike many other Proteaceae species, thus allowing close examination of the influence of flower position, mate choice and flowering sequence on fruit production. We examined breeding system, flowering phenology and spatial patterns of fruit set in the species, after a fire in September 1992 at Bulli Tops, New South Wales. Flowering occurred in December–January, but only in the first and second summers after the fire. The species is partially self-compatible: only 25% of self-pollinated conflorescences initiated fruits compared with 100% of cross-pollinated conflorescences. Fewer flowers initiated fruits after hand self-pollination (3.0%) than after cross-pollination (35.4%). Self-pollinated flowers produced fewer viable seeds (22.2% viable) than cross-pollinated flowers (62.9% viable). Pollen tubes were found in 72% of the self-pollinated flowers examined, suggesting that there is no early stylar self-incompatibility in the species. There was a high level of herbivory on flowering and fruiting branches, with 69% of unbagged branches completely destroyed. This may significantly affect recruitment in the species, given the limited opportunities for reproduction in the post-fire environment. In this study, fruits were evenly distributed along the conflorescence axis unlike some other species in the Proteaceae with more compressed, spike-like flowering structures where fruits are typically concentrated in some parts of the conflorescence axis (e.g. Telopea and some Banksia spp.). No bird visitors to flowers were observed, but a variety of insect visitors were identified.


1971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren G. Bennis ◽  
Michael Beer ◽  
Gerald R. Pieters ◽  
Alan T. Hundert ◽  
Samuel H. Marcus ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Lalita El Milla

Scaffolds is three dimensional structure that serves as a framework for bone growth. Natural materials are often used in synthesis of bone tissue engineering scaffolds with respect to compliance with the content of the human body. Among the materials used to make scafffold was hydroxyapatite, alginate and chitosan. Hydroxyapatite powder obtained by mixing phosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide, alginate powders extracted from brown algae and chitosan powder acetylated from crab. The purpose of this study was to examine the functional groups of hydroxyapatite, alginate and chitosan. The method used in this study was laboratory experimental using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for hydroxyapatite, alginate and chitosan powders. The results indicated the presence of functional groups PO43-, O-H and CO32- in hydroxyapatite. In alginate there were O-H, C=O, COOH and C-O-C functional groups, whereas in chitosan there were O-H, N-H, C=O, C-N, and C-O-C. It was concluded that the third material containing functional groups as found in humans that correspond to the scaffolds material in bone tissue engineering.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
JASWINDER KAUR ◽  
SATYA NARAIN

The floristic exploration and critical examination of specimens collected of family Convolvulaceae from Upper Gangetic Plains of India, resulted in addition of 2 new records for the flora viz. Ipomoea littoralis and Ipomoea capitellata var. multilobata. Detailed description, phenology, ecology, distribution, locality, field number, type specimens examined, illustrations and other relevant notes are provided.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document