Feeding butterflies with Tridax procumbens (L.), a beneficial plant for maintaining butterfly populations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55779/ng43174Keywords:
butterfly diversity, conservation, flower visitor, flowering plant, interactionAbstract
Butterflies play a crucial role in pollination by feeding on nectar from flowers. In the urbanized area, the interaction of butterflies and flowering plants indicates the state of the environment in this area. Tridax procumbens Linnaeus is an invasive plant, best known as a widespread weed and pest plant. A study was conducted to analyze the association of butterflies with T. procumbens in different time intervals, namely 10 am – 12 pm, 12 – 2 pm, and 2 – 4 pm. A total of 34 species of butterflies belonging to 5 families were reported to visit this plant. Among these three time slots, 12 pm to 2 pm holds significantly the highest number of butterfly visitors (X2=13131.3818, df=33, p=0.00001). The present study demonstrated that the presence of butterfly species and their frequency on T. procumbens shows different visitation patterns for different families in each time interval. The study determined that the butterfly species helps to pollinate this plant, which in turn helps to conserve these butterfly species.
Metrics
References
Aguilar R, Martén Rodríguez S, Avila Sakar G, Ashworth L, Lopezaraiza Mikel M, Quesada M (2015). A global review of pollination syndromes: a response to Ollerton et al. 2015. Journal of Pollination Ecology 17(18):126-128. https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2015)21
Andriana Y, Xuan TD, Quy TN, Minh TN, Van TM, Viet TD (2019). Antihyperuricemia, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities of Tridax procumbens L. Foods 8(1):21. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8010021
Araujo LS, Medina AM, Gimenes M (2018). Pollination efficiency on Ipomoea bahiensis (Convolvulaceae): morphological and behavioural aspects of floral visitors. Iheringia. Série Zoologia 108:e2018012. https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-4766e2018012
Bawa KS (1990). Plant-pollinator interactions in tropical rain forests. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 21(1):399-422. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.es.21.110190.002151
Benadi G, Blüthgen N, Hovestadt T, Poethke HJ (2013). When can plant-pollinator interactions promote plant diversity?. The American Naturalist 182(2):131-146. https://doi.org/10.1086/670942
Branson DH, Joern A, Sword GA (2006). Sustainable management of insect herbivores in grassland ecosystems: new perspectives in grasshopper control. Bioscience 56(9):743-755. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2006)56[743:SMOIHI]2.0.CO;2
Brose U, Hillebrand H (2016). Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in dynamic landscapes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371(1694):20150267. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0267
Carrión‐Tacuri J, Berjano R, Guerrero G, Figueroa E, Tye A, Castillo JM (2014). Fruit set and the diurnal pollinators of the invasive Lantana camara and the endemic Lantana peduncularis in the Galapagos Islands. Weed Biology and Management 14(3):209-219. https://doi.org/10.1111/wbm.12048
Dattaray D (2022). Traditional uses and pharmacology of plant Tridax procumbens: A review. Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy 13:476-482.
De Araújo LDA, Quirino ZGM, Machado IC (2014). High specialisation in the pollination system of Mandevilla tenuifolia (J.C. Mikan) Woodson (Apocynaceae) drives the effectiveness of butterflies as pollinators. Plant Biology 16(5):947-955. https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.12152
Dennis RL, Shreeve TG, Van Dyck H (2006). Habitats and resources: the need for a resource-based definition to conserve butterflies. Biodiversity and Conservation 15:1943-1966. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-005-4314-3
Dick CW, Hardy OJ, Jones FA, Petit RJ (2008). Spatial scales of pollen and seed-mediated gene flow in tropical rain forest trees. Tropical Plant Biology 1:20-33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12042-007-9006-6
Epps MJ, Allison SE, Wolfe LM (2015). Reproduction in flame azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum, Ericaceae): a rare case of insect wing pollination. The American Naturalist 186(2):294-301. https://doi.org/10.1086/682006
Huang ZY, Giray T (2012). Factors affecting pollinators and pollination. Psyche: A Journal of Entomology 302409. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/302409
Kehimkar ID (2016). Butterflies of India: BNHS Field Guides. Bombay Natural History Society.
Kevan PG, Baker HG (1983). Insects as flower visitors and pollinators. Annual Review of Entomology 28(1):407-453. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.en.28.010183.002203
Kevan PG, Viana BF (2003). The global decline of pollination services. Biodiversity 4(4):3-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/14888386.2003.9712703
Kritasampan K, Milne JR, Srikosamatara S, Jitklang S, Jeratthitikul E (2016). Flower-visiting arthropods of the invasive weed, Lantana camara L. Tropical Natural History 16(1):7-19.
Lang JM, Benbow ME (2013). Species interactions and competition. Nature Education Knowledge 4(4):8.
Mallick MAI (2023). Abundance, habitat preference and seasonal patterns of different butterfly species (Order: Lepidoptera): A preliminary study in West Bengal State University (WBSU) campus, West Bengal, India. International Journal of Advanced Research in Biological Sciences 10(3):6-21.
Moritz C (2002). Strategies to protect biological diversity and the evolutionary processes that sustain it. Systematic Biology 51(2):238-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150252899752
Mukherjee S, Banerjee S, Basu P, Saha G, Aditya G (2015). Lantana camara and butterfly abundance in an urban landscape: Benefits for conservation or species invasion?. Ekológia (Bratislava) 34(4):309-328. https://doi.org/10.1515/eko-2015-0029
Olito C, Fox JW (2015). Species traits and abundances predict metrics of plant–pollinator network structure, but not pairwise interactions. Oikos 124(4):428-436. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.01439
Peiris PUS (2016). Study on butterfly visitation patterns of Stachytarpheta jamaicensis as a beneficial plant for Butterfly conservation. International Journal of Biological, Biomolecular, Agricultural, Food and Biotechnological Engineering 10(2):97-100. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1111931
Peralta G, Vazquez DP, Chacoff NP, Lomáscolo SB, Perry GL, Tylianakis JM (2020). Trait matching and phenological overlap increase the spatio‐temporal stability and functionality of plant–pollinator interactions. Ecology Letters 23(7):1107-1116. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13510
Pfeiffer JM, Voeks RA (2008). Biological invasions and biocultural diversity: linking ecological and cultural systems. Environmental Conservation 35(4):281-293. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892908005146
Phillips BB, Bullock JM, Gaston KJ, Hudson‐Edwards KA, Bamford M, Cruse D, ... Osborne JL (2021). Impacts of multiple pollutants on pollinator activity in road verges. Journal of Applied Ecology 58(5):1017-1029. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13844
Rollin O, Benelli G, Benvenuti S, Decourtye A, Wratten SD, Canale A, Desneux N (2016). Weed-insect pollinator networks as bio-indicators of ecological sustainability in agriculture. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 36:1-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-015-0342-x
Rosas‐Guerrero V, Aguilar R, Martén‐Rodríguez S, Ashworth L, Lopezaraiza‐Mikel M, Bastida JM, Quesada M (2014). A quantitative review of pollination syndromes: do floral traits predict effective pollinators?. Ecology Letters 17(3):388-400. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12224
Schwarz B, Vázquez DP, CaraDonna PJ, Knight TM, Benadi G, Dormann CF, ... Fründ J (2020). Temporal scale‐dependence of plant–pollinator networks. Oikos 129(9):1289-1302. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.07303
Silva JLS, de Oliveira MTP, Cruz-Neto O, Tabarelli M, Lopes AV (2021). Plant–pollinator interactions in urban ecosystems worldwide: A comprehensive review including research funding and policy actions. Ambio 50(4):884-900. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01410-z
Simberloff D (2014). Biological invasions: What’s worth fighting and what can be won?. Ecological Engineering 65:112-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2013.08.004
Thébault E, Fontaine C (2010). Stability of ecological communities and the architecture of mutualistic and trophic networks. Science 329(5993):853-856. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1188321
Varalakshmi P, Raju AS, Chandra PH (2012). Pollination ecology of Tridax procumbens L. (Asteraceae). Journal of Palynology 49:143-158.
Wenzel A, Grass I, Belavadi VV, Tscharntke T (2020). How urbanization is driving pollinator diversity and pollination–A systematic review. Biological Conservation 241:108321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108321
Wilby A, Orwin KH (2013). Herbivore species richness, composition and community structure mediate predator richness effects and top-down control of herbivore biomass. Oecologia 172(4):1167-1177. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s00442-012-2573-8
Younis A, Riaz A, Saleem S, Hameed M (2010). Potential use of wild flowers in urban landscape. Acta Horticulturae 881:229-233. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2010.881.29
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Md. Abu Imran MALLICK, Neharika VIRDI
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Distribution - Permissions - Copyright
Papers published in Nova Geodesia are Open-Access, distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
© Articles by the authors; licensee SMTCT, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The journal allows the author(s) to hold the copyright/to retain publishing rights without restriction.
License:
Open Access Journal - the journal offers free, immediate, and unrestricted access to peer-reviewed research and scholarly work, due to SMTCT support to increase the visibility, accessibility and reputation of the researchers, regardless of geography and their budgets. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.