Sex at high altitudes: plant reproduction

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PLANTS AND LIFE PROCESSES

Importance of flies as pollinators

Two case studies illustrate the importance of flies as pollinators at high altitudes:

Pollinators of Leontopodium alpinum (the edelweiss, Asteraceae)

Erhardt (1993) observed insects of 29 families as visitors to flowers of this famous plant, which is distributed from the Pyrenees to the Alps and eastwards to the Central Balkan.

1 - Leontopodium alpinum (Asteraceae) (photograph by A. Erhardt)

2 - Dipterids on L. alpinum (photograph by A. Erhardt)

Leontopodium alpinum
Insect group		Pollination
Diptera	13 families	88 %
Hymenoptera	8 families	6 %
Coleoptera	3 families	3 %
Lepidoptera	5 families	3 %

Pollinators of Eritrichium nanum (Boraginaceae)

Zoller et al. (2002) observed insects of 12 families visiting flowers of this cushion plant, which represents a polymorphic complex of related taxa growing at high altitudes in Eurasia and in the Rocky Mountains from Alaska to Colorado.

Eritrichium nanum
Insect group		Pollination
Diptera	5 families	87 %
Hymenoptera	4 families	8 %
Lepidoptera	3 families	7 %

(photographs by H. Lenzin)

29 August 2011 © ALPECOLe 2002-2007