Floral visitors, their frequency, activity rate and Index of Visitation Rate in...

• Author(s): Albano, Sílvia ; Salvado, Eva ; Borges, Paulo A. V. ; Mexia, António
• Date: 2009
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/1867
• Origin: Repositório da Universidade dos Açores
• Subject(s): Apis mellifera; Fragaria × Ananassa; Syrphidae; Pollination; Native Bees
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

Copyright © 2009 Universita degli Studi di Firenze. This study was carried out in one of the most important strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) producing regions of Portugal, the Ribatejo, and aims to describe the quantitative component of visits by strawberry floral visitors under open field conditions. The main objectives were: (1) to assess the flower-visiting insects of the strawberry crop; (2) to evaluate the percentage of frequency (F) and activity rate (AR) in order to determine an Index of Visitation Rate (IVR) for the different categories of visitors. This study allowed us to access the vast spectrum of flower-visiting insects of the strawberry crop and to characterize their visits regarding parameters such as F and AR, used to calculate IVR. Based on the referred index it was possible to highlight three categories of insect visitors: Syrphidae (Diptera), Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera) and native bees (Hymenoptera). Other aspects were evaluated such as no. ind/flower throughout three different phases of the blooming period and field conditions. All the parameters allowed us to gather a set of information inherent to each of these categories, which will be useful for conservation and management procedures aiming at adequate pollination of the strawberry crop.