Do Pollinators Discriminate Among Parental
Floral Forms?
Yes -- hawkmoths prefer N. alata, although they visit N.
forgetiana ~ 16.5% of the time. Hummingbirds and one species of
small hawkmoth preferred N. forgetiana almost exclusively.
Figure 1. Frequency of pollinator visitation to N. alata or
N. forgetiana in experimental sympatry plots. Black bars
indicate visits by large hawkmoths, white bars indicate hummingbird
visits, and gray bars indicate small hawkmoth visits. The lines
indicate the percentages of N. alata (%N.a.) and N.
forgetiana (%N.f.) plants in the plots. Pollinator preferences
were tested (X2df=1) by comparing observed
visitation frequencies to the expectation that plant species would be
visited in proportion to their presence in the plots. All comparisons
were significant at the p<0.01 or p<0.001 level.
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