Pollination and seed dispersal in Freycinetia baueriana, a dioecious liane that has lost its bat pollinator

Abstract

It has been suggested that Freycinetia haueriana is adapted to bat-pollination. Of the two species of bats in New Zealand that are thought to eat fruit and pollen, one, Mystacina robusta is believed to be extinct and the other, M. tuberculatum is rare. A preliminary study in an area where F. baueriana is abundant but M. tuberculata is locally extinct, found that limited cross-pollination and seed dispersal was still occurring. This would indicate that F. baueriana is not dependent on the presence of bats to perform these functions. Results also indicate that the introduced possum, Trichosurusvulpecula, is acting as a pollinator and disperser of F. baueriana.

Keywords:

• Freycinetia baueriana
• bat-pollination
• dispersal
• Mystacina tuberculata
• extinction
• specialisation
• possum
• Trichosurus vulpecula