Time of day effects on pollination

During my observations of pollinators, I have seen that most pollinators are more active during certain periods of time. Although this varies from species to species, their pollination patterns are consistent within species. For Honey bees and wasps, they are most active during the afternoon from 1 pm to 4 pm (PDT). For butterflies and dragonflies, they are more active midday 11 am to 2 pm (PDT). And for hummingbirds, they are most active during the late afternoon 3 pm to 4 pm (PDT) or early morning 8 am to 10 am (PDT). One trend from all the species observed is that they are all stop pollination after sundown. This might be due to the fact that all are diurnal species; meaning that they are active during the day.

References

Cao, G., Wu, B., Xu, X., Wang, X., & Yang, C. (2017). The effects of local variation in light availability on pollinator visitation, pollen and resource limitation of female reproduction in Hosta ventricosa. Botanical Studies, 58(1), 1-7. doi:10.1186/s40529-017-0180-z

Posted on December 11, 2017 07:47 PM by jswoosh89