Nectar robbing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nectar robbing refers to an insect (or other visitor, such as a bird) visiting a flowering plant and removing nectar without pollinating the plant, for example by drilling a hole in the corolla.
Although early writers such as Charles Darwin generally assumed that this is a form of cheating, by the late twentieth century researchers cast doubt on that assumption. It turns out that some insects which had been assumed to be robbing nectar do in fact pollinate the plants at least some of the time,[1] and there has also been research into how nectar robbing may affect the behavior of non-robbing pollinators or provide other indirect benefits. If these factors make the interaction beneficial for the plant, it is mutualism rather than cheating.
Nectar robbers include carpenter bees, bumblebees, Trigona bees, and the bird Diglossa baritula from Central America.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ William F. Morris (July, 1996). "Mutualism denied? Nectar-robbing bumble bees do not reduce female or male success of bluebells". Ecology 77 (5): 1451–1462. doi:.
- ^ Maloof, Joan E; Inouye, David W (Oct 2000). "Are nectar robbers cheaters or mutualists?". Ecology 81 (10): 2651-2661. ISSN 0012-9658.
