Artigo Revisado por pares

Scent profiles of flower colour morphs of Corydalis cava (Fumariaceae) in relation to foraging behaviour of bumblebee queens (Bombus terrestris)

1994; Elsevier BV; Volume: 22; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0305-1978(94)90096-5

ISSN

1873-2925

Autores

Jes Olesen, Jette T. Knudsen,

Tópico(s)

Plant Parasitism and Resistance

Resumo

In general, pollinating insects are discriminatory to flower scent and colour. The perennial forest herb Corydalis cava (Fumariaceae) has either red-magenta or white-flowered individuals. We examined if the different flower colour morphs had different scent profile (headspace-technique, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry), and if pollinating bumblebees discriminated between colours. Twenty-seven compounds, including monoterpenes, benzenoids, phenylpropanoids and nitrogen-containing compounds were present in the scent samples. Scent profile varied a lot between individual plants regardless of flower colour. The foraging choice from red to either red or white was random. The foraging route, white-white, was, however, chosen much more frequently than one should expect by chance alone. However, number of flowers per inflorescence and fecundity did not differ between colour morphs.

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