Dec.
6, 2012 — Of the two bat species known to visit the flowers of the cardon
cactus in Baja California, one depends entirely on nectar and is highly
specialized to feed from the flowers, which are adapted for pollination by
bats. The other is an insect-eating bat best known for its ability to hear the
footsteps of large insects and scorpions and capture them on the ground.
In a
surprising result, scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have
found that the insect-eating pallid bat is a more effective pollinator of the
cactus flowers than the nectar-feeding specialist, the lesser long-nosed bat.
"The
lesser long-nosed bat is highly specialized for nectar-feeding and was thought
to be the primary pollinator of the cardon cactus. But when we measured their
effectiveness, we found that the pallid bat actually delivers about 13 times as
much pollen per visit," said Winifred Frick, a research scientist at UC
Santa Cruz. Frick is first author of a paper on the new findings published
online in American Naturalist.
The
study highlights the complex nature of the mutually beneficial relationships
between plants and their pollinators, which in most cases have evolved together
over long periods of time. There are often conflicts of interest between the
partners, according to coauthor Kathleen Kay, assistant professor of ecology
and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz.
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