Seasonal cycles, phylogenetic assembly, and functional diversity of orchid bee communities.

ABSTRACT: Neotropical rainforests sustain some of the most diverse terrestrial communities on Earth. Euglossine (or orchid) bees are a diverse lineage of insect pollinators distributed throughout the American tropics, where they provide pollination services to a staggering diversity of flowering plant taxa. Elucidating the seasonal patterns of phylogenetic assembly and functional trait diversity of bee communities can shed new light into the mechanisms that govern the assembly of bee pollinator communities and the potential effects of declining bee populations. Male euglossine bees collect, store, and accumulate odoriferous compounds (perfumes) to subsequently use during courtship display. Thus, synthetic chemical baits can be used to attract and monitor euglossine bee populations. We conducted mont

SUBMITTER: Ramirez SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4485970 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature