Studying Pollination Networks of Arctic and Boreal Plants at Isle Royale National Park

A Muscid fly, Phaonia, on the boreal plant bunchberry dogwood, Cornus canadensis.

Photo by Dr. Joan Edwards

Dr. Joan Edwards and her research team from the Biology Department at Williams College are continuing a study at Isle Royale National Park on the pollination networks of arctic and boreal plants. In a portion of the study, they observe and document flower morphology and collect near-complete records of the pollinating insects that visit each flower species.

The pollinator studies show that most flower species have many different species of floral visitors indicating that there is potentially resilience in the pollination systems, where a given insect species can forage on more than one flower and each flower species can have with multiple potential pollinators. On Edwards Island, the researchers filmed 24 flower species over the course of 2017 and 2018. Each flowering species was filmed at two locations separated by only ~ 300m. Even with such a short distance between sites, there were insect species that were unique to each site. These data suggest that pollinators like to remain local as they forage for their nectar and pollen. Similarly flowers rely on local pollinators to carry their pollen. The different mixes of insect species at each flower support resiliency of both the insects, which adjust to the locally available flower species, and the resiliency of the flowers, which can rely on a variety of pollen couriers. The study also emphasizes the importance of conserving pollinator diversity at multiple sites in order to maintain a robust insect-flower pollination system.

Click here to see Dr. Edward's research paper, and here to see a listing of many of her other papers.