Assessing the Role of Lizards as Potential Pollinators of an Insular Plant Community and Its Intraspecific Variation.

ABSTRACT: The role of lizards as potential pollinators on islands has been documented for either one or a few plants in different parts of the world, but it has never been assessed for an entire plant community. Here, we quantified interaction rate by lizards and evaluated intraspecific differences in the use of flowers on Cabrera Gran (Cabrera archipelago, Balearic Islands) by means of visual observations, automated cameras and the analysis of pollen grain samples. Overall, we recorded interactions of the Balearic wall lizard (Podarcis lilfordi) with flowers of 44 plant species, 72.7% of which were unknown to date. Although florivory occurs in some of these species (35%), the majority of visits were legitimate (65%); in addition, we found intraspecific differences in the interactions related

SUBMITTER: Romero-Egea V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10044671 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature