Plants survive few pollinators: peatland plants

1 of 2 Kalmia polifolia / Mirjana Cham.. / License

Plants in peatlands survive low numbers of pollinators by staggering their flowering times.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

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Designing agricultural systems to be resilient for years with low pollinator populations Maintain pollinator populations by providing a sequence of plants in flower

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"Many plant species depend on insect pollinators, and such insects are often rare on peatlands. Bog dwarf shrubs have separated flowering times. For instance, in Ontario the flowering sequence is Chamaedaphne calyculata, Andromeda glaucophylla, Kalmia polifolia, Rhododendron groenlandicum, Vaccinium macrocarpon (with wide overlap in flowering time only between Andromeda and Kalmia). The pollinators (e.g. bees) are quite generalist and serve several species, so it may well be that the differentiation in flowering time has evolved to avoid competition for pollinators (Reader 1975)." (Rydin and Jeglum 2006:56)

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Plantae

Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Designing agricultural systems to be resilient for years with low pollinator populations, while also making choices to maintain pollinators, by providing a sequence of plants in flower.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Agriculture, bee-keeping

References

Rydin, H.; Jeglum, J. K. 2006. The Biology of Peatlands. Oxford University Press. 343 p.

Reader RJ. 1975. Competitive relationships of some bog ericads for major insect pollinators. Canadian Journal of Botany. 53(13): 1300-1305.

Plants survive few pollinators: peatland plants

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