Interactions for pollination between two synchronously blooming hedysarum species (Fabaceae) in Alaska

Abstract

In interior and arctic Alaska, Hedysarum boreale and H. alpinum (Fabaceae) occur sympatrically, bloom nearly synchronously, have similar floral morphology and color, and require pollination by insects to set seed. I studied the pollination ecology ofthese species at a site where they occur sympatrically near Fairbanks, Alaska, to determine if pollination interactions playa role in maintaining overlapping blooming times. Seed set in each species was apparently neither enhanced nor reduced by the presence of the other species. Seed set of H. boreale was positively related to visitation rates by female Megachile giliae, the most abundant visitor to H. boreale. This bee showed no preference between the two Hedysarum species. However, worker Bombus flavifrons, the most abundant visitor to H. alpinum, preferred to forage on H. alpinum. The exhibition of strong floral constancy by visitors to the two Hedysarum species suggests that interspecific pollination may not be strong enough to cause divergence in blooming times. I found no evidence that the presence of one Hedysarum species enhances visitation to the other species. Instead, because visitation by worker B. flavifrons to H. alpinum was reduced on sympatric plots, H. alpinum may have to tolerate overlap with H. boreale to take advantage of worker B. flavifrons activity. The results of this study suggest that the two Hedysarum species may simply bloom when their best pollinators are most active.