Tag Archives: pollinators

Ethiopian wolves, known for their love of nectar, may become the first carnivore pollinators

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Ethiopian wolf licks nectar from red hot poker flowers in Ethiopia

Adrian Lesaffre

Ethiopian wolves feed on the sweet nectar of local flowers and apply pollen to their noses as they do so. This could make them the first carnivores discovered to function as pollinators.

Ethiopian wolf (canis mensis) is the world's rarest wild canid and Africa's most endangered carnivore. Endemic to the Ethiopian highlands, fewer than 500 individuals remain.

sandra rye Researchers at the University of Oxford observed wild Ethiopian wolves sucking nectar from Ethiopian red hot pokers (Kniphofia foliosa) flowers. Local mountain people have traditionally used its nectar as a sweetener for coffee and flatbread.

Wolves are thought to be the first large carnivores recorded to regularly feed on nectar.

“Nectar feeding is highly unusual for large carnivores such as wolves. This is due to a lack of physical adaptations such as long tongues and specialized noses, and also because most flowers are too fragile. “It's either easy to eat, or it produces too little nectar to be interesting to large carnivores,” Rai says.

The poker plant's durable, nectar-rich flower heads make this behavior possible, she says. “To my knowledge, no other large carnivores have shown nectar-feeding behavior. However, although rare and poorly documented, some omnivorous bears do opportunistically forage for nectar.” It may happen.

Some wolves reportedly visited as many as 30 flowers at once. When wolves lick nectar from flowers, their muzzles become coated with pollen. Pollen may be transferred from flower to flower as wolves feed.

Sucking nectar is extremely rare among carnivores

Adrian Lesaffre

“This behavior is interesting because it suggests that nectar feeding and pollination by flightless mammals may be more widespread than currently recognized, and raises the question of the ecological importance of these little-known pollinators.” “It shows that it may be more important than we think,” Lai said. “It's very exciting.”

Mr. Rai and his colleagues Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program In the future, we hope to dig deeper into this behavior and its effects. “It would be ideal to confirm actual pollination by wolves, but that would be very difficult,” she says. “I'm also very interested in the social learning aspect of behavior. This year I witnessed adults bringing children to flower gardens, which may indicate cultural transmission. there is.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Deadly Plants: Lethal to Pollinators but Nourishing to Their Offspring

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The Arisaema plant is a death trap for pollinating mushroom gnats.

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Pulpit flowers, famous for trapping and killing pollinators, may also act as nurseries for insect eggs, revealing a more subtle and mutually beneficial relationship that challenges existing assumptions. Become.

These jug-shaped plants are Alisa EmmaThey mimic the look and smell of musty mushrooms to attract fungus gnats, which are major pollinators. But when insects dip into the flower's spathe in search of this pungent food, they are unable to crawl out because the interior of the flower's elongated hood is too waxy. The gnat struggles violently inside its mottled red-green cup, scattering pollen all around it to thoroughly pollinate the plant, but eventually dies of exhaustion.

At least this is what botanists think I've been thinking about it for a long time.

But when Kenji Suetsugu A team from Japan's Kobe University hatched 62 flowers of the Asian pulpit jack-in-the-pulpit species Alisa Emmathunbergi, they realized something was wrong. The gnat was helplessly captured and laid eggs in the crown of the flower. When the flowers begin to wither, these larvae feed on the shriveled and rotting flesh and emerge as adults a few weeks later.

The fact that traps can serve the dual function of pollination sites and nurseries for the next generation of pollinators is “really surprising,” Suetsugu says.

Furthermore, some adults are able to escape from flower traps before it is too late. So the ducks aren't “technically lethal,” Suetsugu said. This suggests that plants strike a balance between ensuring pollination and not completely depleting the number of pollinating gnats.

These findings suggest that the relationship between jack-in-the-pulpit and its pollinators is much more complex than previously thought and cannot be neatly categorized as purely mutualistic or antagonistic.”, says Suetsugu.

This relationship may represent a step in the evolution of plants, from purely deceptive pollinators to mutually beneficial relationships with pollinators. Importantly, the findings may also suggest that there is more to the relationships between other plants and pollinators around the world than meets the eye.

Indeed, these findings challenge some preconceived ecological concepts. Jeff Ollerton at the University of Northampton, UK. In this particular case, the situation is mixed, as only some insects seem to be benefiting.He has more types of Alisa Emma (This genus includes more than 190 species) To learn more, you need to study this species in detail.

“The deeper we look into plant-pollinator interactions, the more we learn about the ability of plants to manipulate pollinator behavior and how pollinators can evolve strategies to acquire resources. There are more surprises to come,” Ollerton said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com