Insect pollinators of the late winter flowering Rhamnus alaternus L., a candidate for honeybee-friendly scrubland spots in intensively managed agricultural areas

Abstract

Insect pollinators of Rhamnus alaternus belong to 11 families, 17 genera and 20 species. The most abundant species is the honeybee followed by flies and bumblebees. Honeybee visits on R. alaternus decreased from late winter to early spring, highlighting the key role of this flowering in food paucity periods.

Keywords:

• Apidae
• entomophilous pollination
• Italian buckthorn
• Mediterranean maquis
• saprophilous flies

Acknowledgements

We thank the three anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2014.993742.

Additional information

Funding

Giovanni Benelli is supported by a MIS. 124 MODOLIVI Grant. Funds were also provided by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). Funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.