Ke Coco Deng

Date of Award

2024

First Advisor

Donald McClelland

Second Advisor

Sarah Snyder

Abstract

With small island ecosystems being among the most vulnerable to the increasing threats of anthropogenic changes, this is the first study to examine the pollination of the Lesser Antillean endemic plants Lobelia cirsiifolia/digitalifolia complex (Campanulaceae) and Miconia purpurea (Melastomataceae). Preliminary field observations made on the island of Montserrat identified current vertebrate pollinators and were suggestive of birds being main pollinators of both plants (L. cirsiifolia/digitalifolia: the hummingbird Orthorhynchus cristatus exilis; M. purpurea: perching birds (Icterus oberi, Coereba flaveola bartholemica), hummingbirds (Eulampis jugularis, Orthorhyncus cristatus exilis), rodent (Rattus rattus); bat visitation also observed). 4 out of 5 species of total observed pollinators are endemic to the Lesser Antilles on a species/subspecies level, with one (Icterus oberi) being endemic to Montserrat. Corolla lengths of the two plants were compared with the culmen lengths of their avian pollinators: all culmens of the pollinators of M. purpurea were longer than the corolla, but the bill of O. cristatus exilis was found to be shorter than the corolla of L. cirsiifolia/digitalifolia, potentially explaining observed nectar robbing behavior. The nectar of L. cirsiifolia/digitalifolia was tested using ATR-FTIR and found to be hexose-rich (sucrose / (fructose + glucose) ratio of 0.328), which is indicative of New World bat pollination. Though the pollination syndrome and hexose-rich nectar of L. cirsiifolia/digitalifolia are indicative of bat pollination, no bats were observed pollinating during the study period.

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