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Type: Article
Published: 2016-05-13
Page range: 1-7
Abstract views: 133
PDF downloaded: 81

Upper canopy pollinators of Eucryphia cordifolia Cav., a tree of South American temperate rain forest

1.Instituto de Ecologia y Biodiversidad (IEB), Santiago, Chile. 2.Instituto de Conservación, Biodiversidad y Territorio de la Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia.
1. Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Santiago, Chile.
1. Instituto de Conservación, Biodiversidad y Territorio de la Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.
Instituto de Conservación, Biodiversidad y Territorio de la Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
1. Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Santiago, Chile. 2. Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Bombus canopy studies biodiversity in Chiloé Island insect pollinators ulmo.

Abstract

Ecological processes in the upper canopy of temperate forests have been seldom studied because of the limited accessibility. Here, we present the results of the first survey of the pollinator assemblage and the frequency of insect visits to flowers in the upper branches of ulmo, Eucryphia cordifolia Cav., an emergent 30-40 m-tall tree in rainforests of Chiloé Island, Chile. We compared these findings with a survey of flower visitors restricted to lower branches of E. cordifolia 1- in the forest understory, 2- in lower branches in an agroforestry area. We found 10 species of pollinators in canopy, and eight, 12 and 15 species in understory, depending of tree locations. The main pollinators of E. cordifolia in the upper canopy differed significantly from the pollinator assemblage recorded in lower tree branches. We conclude that the pollinator assemblages of the temperate forest canopy and interior are still unknown.