In the south of France, in the Parc national des Calanques, Teucrium polium subsp. purpurascens (Lamiaceae) is a rare and threatened plant, confined mainly to the Frioul archipelago, an insular coastal habitat close to the mainland. To better understand its ecological interactions, this study compared its floral visitors to those of a more common plant in the same genus, Teucrium flavum.
Posted in Plant Ecology, This work of Claire Bouchot, Laurence Affre , Clément Beaumont , Gabriel Nève and Benoît Geslin, highlights a strong differentiation of pollinator communities between the two plants:
- T. p. purpurascens is visited by a high diversity of pollinating insects (Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidotera and Coleoptera).
- T. flavum is mainly foraged by bees, a more specialised community.
Both plants also have distinct floral appeal strategies :
- T. p. purpurascens produces many small flowers rich in highly concentrated nectar, attracting a guild of small, short-tongued bees.
- T. flavum on the other hand, offers fewer, larger flowers with more abundant and less concentrated nectar, attracting large, long-tongued bees.
So, despite their phylogenetic proximity, these two species illustrate contrasting ecological strategies, shaping distinct pollination networks in the same environment.
