Firstly, thanks to every observer who has contributed to the Bee-Flower Interaction Project over the past year. We know adding plant identifications is not always easy, and we are only thankful to you for the time and effort that you have put in. We also thank people who are more familiar with plants for their help in identifying plants.
We have been wanting to follow-up with an update and to be able to present the data that we’ve gathered so far. We hope this journal update serves that purpose.
To begin with, here’s a distribution of all the observations that have been added to the project. As evident, we need to add observations from more regions of the country to make sure that the data is reflective of the diversity, and also continue adding more observations. Any help towards achieving this is welcome, and we look for your continued support.
Again, we would like to thank every individual who has contributed to the project in the form of observations, plant IDs and in every other way.
Aethomegachile (4) | Apis florea (82) | Rosa | Nomia buddha (1) | Xylocopa (29) |
Cajanus | Acacia | Rotheca | Anisomeles | Alpinia |
Luffa | Acmella | Ruellia | Nomia crassipes (6) | Argyreia |
Millettia | Allium | Sphagneticola | Cleome | Calotropis |
Phaseolus | Alternanthera | Taraxacum | Coleus | Centrosema |
Amegilla (7) | Amaranthaceae | Tecoma | Ocimum | Crotalaria |
Calotropis | Antigonon | Turnera | Sesamum | Crotalarieae |
Cyanthillium | Arecaceae | Ctenoplectra (1) | Sphenoclea | Cyanotis |
Lantana | Argemone | Dendrobium | Tridax | Hygrophila |
Leucas | Asclepias | Eoanthidium salemense (3) | Nomia curvipes (1) | Justicia |
Ocimum | Asteraceae | Bidens | Tridax | Lantana |
Solanum | Avicennia | Ocimum | Nomia elliotii (3) | Leucas |
Tribulus | Bacopa | Sphagneticola | Cleome | Libidibia |
Amegilla confusa (1) | Borassus | Euaspis (5) | Coccinia | Luffa |
Lamiaceae | Boswellia | Asystasia | Millettia | Mesosphaerum |
Amegilla dizona (3) | Brassica | Medicago | Nomia iridescens (3) | Millettia |
Anisomeles | Brassicaceae | Millettia | Caesalpinia | Mimosa |
Leucas | Calotropis | Murraya | Senna | Momordica |
Tecoma | Capparis | Ocimum | Volkameria | Passiflora |
Amegilla violacea (4) | Chromolaena | Eucerini (4) | Nomia radiata (1) | Pentas |
Calotropis | Cleome | Fabales | Corchorus | Phaseolus |
Costus | Combretum | Luffa | Nomia strigata (6) | Rotheca |
Lantana | Couroupita | Smithia | Bauhinia | Samanea |
Mesosphaerum | Cuphea | Vicoa | Cocos | Senna |
Andrena (1) | Cyanotis | Eutricharaea (3) | Derris | Solanum |
Rubus | Cyperus | Cajanus | Lantana | Stachytarpheta |
Anthophila (2) | Derris | Scoparia | Urena | Thunbergia |
Jatropha | Euphorbia | Tridax | Zingiberaceae | Tricholepis |
Pogostemon | Gaillardia | Halictidae (2) | Nomia thoracica (3) | Vigna |
Anthophora (1) | Gazania | Antigonon | Corchorus | Wisteria |
Corydalis | Gerbera | Grewia | Justicia | Xylocopa auripennis (5) |
Apidae (1) | Glycosmis | Halictini (3) | Leea | Calotropis |
Mammea | Gomphrena | Cocos | Nomia westwoodi (31) | Catharanthus |
Apinae (2) | Gymnema | Dianthus | Abutilon | Crotalaria |
Antigonon | Hamelia | Murraya | Antigonon | Hellenia |
Strobilanthes | Hygrophila | Halictus latisignatus (2) | Asystasia | Millettia |
Apis (1) | Ipomoea | Alternanthera | Averrhoa | Xylocopa fenestrata (10) |
Lantana | Ixora | Senecio | Caesalpinia | Alangium |
Apis cerana (104) | Jacquemontia | Homalictus (1) | Cichorioideae | Asclepias |
Acanthaceae | Justicia | Pseuderanthemum | Cleome | Cajanus |
Adelocaryum | Kydia | Hoplonomia (7) | Coccinia | Calotropis |
Ageratum | Lagenaria | Cajanus | Coleus | Coccinia |
Allium | Lagerstroemia | Cleome | Crotalarieae | Crotalaria |
Aloysia | Leea | Crotalaria | Cucurbitales | Lantana |
Antigonon | Leucas | Justicia | Cuphea | Luffa |
Argemone | Libidibia | Muntingia | Drymophila | Momordica |
Asclepias | Luffa | Senna | Gomphrena | Sesamum |
Asteraceae | Melanthera | Solanum | Grewia | Xylocopa ruficornis (14) |
Averrhoa | Mikania | Hylaeus (3) | Leea | Crotalaria |
Bauhinia | Millettia | Cleome | Macroptilium | Grewia |
Bidens | Mimosa | Loranthaceae | Mesosphaerum | Hydrangea |
Brassica | Mitracarpus | Terminalia | Millettia | Lantana |
Brassicaceae | Muntingia | Ipomalictus (1) | Murdannia | Millettia |
Calliandra | Murdannia | Hibiscus | Neltuma | Mimusops |
Canna | Neltuma | Koptortosoma (20) | Passiflora | Passiflora |
Capparis | Nelumbo | Anisomeles | Plumbago | Rotheca |
Cardiospermum | Nymphaea | Calotropis | Rotheca | Senna |
Carduoideae | Nymphaeaceae | Clerodendrum | Salvia | Smithia |
Centratherum | Ocimum | Crotalaria | Sida | Solanum |
Chrozophora | Opuntia | Lagerstroemia | Solanum | Tecoma |
Cirsium | Parthenium | Leucas | Tadehagi | Thunbergia |
Cleome | Phyla | Lobelia | Tecomaria | Turnera |
Coccinia | Picris | Luffa | Tridax | Xylocopa tenuiscapa (15) |
Cocos | Portulaca | Millettia | Vitex | Acanthus |
Coleus | Psidium | Mimusops | Nomiinae (2) | Argyreia |
Commelina | Pyrostegia | Passiflora | Crotalaria | Asclepias |
Cosmos | Ricinus | Passifloraceae | Leea | Calotropis |
Crotalaria | Rosa | Pentas | Osmia (1) | Cassia |
Cucurbita | Samanea | Petrea | Cicer | Clitoria |
Cucurbitaceae | Scoparia | Phaseolus | Osmiini (1) | Crotalaria |
Cuphea | Solidago | Senna | Silybum | Crotalarieae |
Cyanotis | Sphagneticola | Sesamum | Pachyanthidium lachrymosum (1) | Luffa |
Cyathocline | Syzygium | Sida | Fabaceae | Mesosphaerum |
Cycadaceae | Tagetes | Stachytarpheta | Pachyhalictus (1) | Millettia |
Dahlia | Tecoma | Tecoma | Begonia | Nerium |
Dalbergia | Terminalia | Lasioglossum (24) | Pithitis (33) | Rotheca |
Derris | Trianthema | Abutilon | Asystasia | Stachytarpheta |
Diplocyclos | Tridax | Brassica | Bidens | Thunbergia |
Duranta | Verbesina | Calotropis | Cleome | Xylocopa tranquebarica (3) |
Erigeron | Vigna | Cichorium | Cosmos | Impatiens |
Euphorbia | Vitex | Cocos | Crotalaria | Polianthes |
Evolvulus | Volkameria | Coleus | Cucumis | Sesamum |
Gazania | Zinnia | Cosmos | Cucurbitaceae | Xylocopa tranquebarorum (1) |
Guilandina | Apis laboriosa (3) | Cyanotis | Cuphea | Lantana |
Hamelia | Campanula | Ixora | Fabaceae | Zonamegilla (39) |
Heliantheae | Geranium | Leea | Glycosmis | Alpinia |
Helianthus | Rubus | Mazus | Helianthus | Calotropis |
Hyptis | Apis mellifera (4) | Mesosphaerum | Ipomoea | Capsicum |
Impatiens | Argemone | Millettia | Jacquemontia | Cascabela |
Ipomoea | Nerium | Momordica | Malvastrum | Clitoria |
Ischaemum | Syzygium | Ocimum | Millettia | Coleus |
Ixora | Tridax | Plumbago | Momordica | Corchorus |
Jacquemontia | Austronomia (4) | Poaceae | Murraya | Cucurbitaceae |
Jatropha | Cucumis | Poales | Ocimum | Curculigo |
Leea | Cyanotis | Ruellia | Persicaria | Galphimia |
Lepidagathis | Pigea | Sphagneticola | Plumbago | Hippeastrum |
Lippia | Sida | Tribulus | Portulaca | Ipomoea |
Luffa | Bombus (6) | Tridax | Ruellia | Justicia |
Malpighia | Centaurea | Turnera | Salvia | Lantana |
Mammea | Gaillardia | Zephyranthes | Sida | Lepidagathis |
Memecylon | Lamium | Lasioglossum albescens (22) | Smithia | Leucas |
Millettia | Lantana | Alternanthera | Spermacoce | Luffa |
Mimosa | Salvia | Asystasia | Sphagneticola | Memecylon |
Mitracarpus | Solanum | Capsicum | Tephrosia | Mesosphaerum |
Muntingia | Bombus breviceps (1) | Carduoideae | Torenia | Millettia |
Musa | Lantana | Combretum | Trichodesma | Moringa |
Nymphaeaceae | Bombus genalis (1) | Cosmos | Tridax | Mussaenda |
Ocimum | Rubus | Hamelia | Turnera | Ocimum |
Opuntia | Bombus rufofasciatus (2) | Ipomoea | Wedelia | Passiflora |
Oryza | Potentilla | Life | Pseudapis oxybeloides (4) | Pentas |
Papaver | Rosa | Luffa | Cleome | Portulaca |
Parasopubia | Braunsapis (25) | Megaskepasma | Cocos | Pseuderanthemum |
Passiflora | Antigonon | Plumbago | Leucas | Rauvolfia |
Poaceae | Asclepias | Poales | Solanum | Salvia |
Poales | Bidens | Portulaca | Pseudoanthidium rotundiventre (1) | Senna |
Polianthes | Biophytum | Sida | Blumea | Sida |
Premna | Caesalpinia | Sonchus | Pseudomegachile (3) | Solanum |
Pterolobium | Cichorioideae | Sphagneticola | Cicer | Stachytarpheta |
Ranunculus | Cocos | Taraxacum | Crotalaria | Tecoma |
Rhododendron | Cucurbitaceae | Tecoma | Medicago | Torenia |
Ricinus | Curculigo | Tridax | Pycnanthidium (1) | Trichosanthes |
Rostellularia | Cyanotis | Turnera | Grewia | Triumfetta |
Rubus | Euphorbia | Zanthoxylum | Rhopalomelissa (4) | Turnera |
Ruellia | Fabaceae | Lipotriches (5) | Ischaemum | Zingiberaceae |
Salix | Glycosmis | Boerhavia | Poaceae | |
Santalum | Grewia | Cleome | Poales | |
Sida | Impatiens | Ischaemum | Sphagneticola | |
Smithia | Jacquemontia | Oryza | Seladonia (9) | |
Solanum | Lantana | Poaceae | Bidens | |
Solidago | Leea | Lipotriches fervida (2) | Croton | |
Spermacoceae | Libidibia | Alternanthera | Eclipta | |
Sphagneticola | Muntingia | Parthenium | Glebionis | |
Stachytarpheta | Nymphaea | Lipotriches fulvinerva (1) | Lactuca | |
Strobilanthes | Oxalis | Sida | Lagascea | |
Tagetes | Portulaca | Lipotriches lonavlaensis (1) | Ocimum | |
Tithonia | Pseuderanthemum | Smithia | Sphagneticola | |
Tribulus | Sida | Lipotriches nanensis (2) | Tridax | |
Tridax | Callomegachile (8) | Poaceae | Sibiricobombus (1) | |
Trifolium | Celosia | Stachytarpheta | Astragalus | |
Tropaeolum | Euphorbia | Lipotriches scutellata (1) | Sphecodes (1) | |
Turnera | Lagerstroemia | Causonis | Antigonon | |
Vachellia | Lawsonia | Lipotriches torrida (1) | Steganomus (2) | |
Zea | Leucas | Poaceae | Medicago | |
Apis dorsata (72) | Millettia | Lithurgus (6) | Tridax | |
Allium | Pogostemon | Abelmoschus | Tetragonula (43) | |
Antigonon | Salvia | Gossypium | Angelonia | |
Arecaceae | Ceratina smaragdula (1) | Hibiscus | Arecaceae | |
Bauhinia | Cleome | Ipomoea | Avicennia | |
Bombax | Ceratina waini (1) | Operculina | Barleria | |
Brassica | Leea | Thespesia | Bauhinia | |
Caesalpinia | Ceratinidia (32) | Maynenomia (1) | Caesalpinia | |
Calliandra | Alnus | Sida | Cajanus | |
Celosia | Antigonon | Megachile (17) | Capsicum | |
Cestrum | Asteraceae | Aegle | Cascabela | |
Chromolaena | Asystasia | Anisomeles | Catharanthus | |
Chrozophora | Bidens | Caesalpinioideae | Celosia | |
Cleome | Boerhavia | Cajanus | Centratherum | |
Clerodendrum | Catharanthus | Calotropis | Citrus | |
Coccinia | Celosia | Clinopodium | Cleome | |
Combretum | Citrus | Coleus | Coleus | |
Commelina | Cocos | Crotalaria | Cucurbitaceae | |
Cosmos | Coleus | Eriophyton | Euphorbia | |
Crescentia | Cosmos | Fabales | Hamelia | |
Crotalarieae | Crotalaria | Lippia | Hibiscus | |
Cucurbitaceae | Cuphea | Mesosphaerum | Hymenocallis | |
Cyanotis | Duranta | Millettia | Ixora | |
Derris | Ixora | Pogostemon | Jatropha | |
Excoecaria | Jacquemontia | Raphanus | Libidibia | |
Getonia | Lantana | Sesamum | Ludwigia | |
Glycosmis | Leea | Vitex | Malpighia | |
Grewia | Leucas | Megachile bicolor (2) | Mammea | |
Guizotia | Luffa | Caesalpinia | Mimosa | |
Hamelia | Plumbago | Millettia | Muntingia | |
Hibiscus | Rotheca | Megachile conjuncta (1) | Neltuma | |
Impatiens | Solidago | Derris | Nyctanthes | |
Ixora | Stachytarpheta | Megachile disjuncta (5) | Nymphaea | |
Jatropha | Synedrella | Caesalpinia | Ocimum | |
Justicia | Tecoma | Cajanus | Portulaca | |
Lantana | Tephrosia | Crotalaria | Rosa | |
Leea | Tridax | Millettia | Syzygium | |
Leucas | Turnera | Tagetes | Tabernaemontana | |
Leucophyllum | Vitex | Megachile lanata (5) | Tagetes | |
Lippia | Zinnia | Cajanus | Thunbergia | |
Luffa | Coelioxys (5) | Crotalaria | Torenia | |
Malachra | Adenium | Leucas | Tridax | |
Mammea | Glycosmis | Mesosphaerum | Turnera | |
Mesosphaerum | Grewia | Millettia | Volkameria | |
Millettia | Murraya | Megachile lerma (1) | Zea | |
Mimosa | Verbena | Crotalarieae | Tetralonia macroceps (2) | |
Murraya | Colletes (1) | Nodula (6) | Argyreia | |
Nerium | Celosia | Alternanthera | Ipomoea | |
Nymphaea | Ctenonomia (31) | Asystasia | Thrinchostoma (1) | |
Ocimum | Antigonon | Calotropis | Begonia | |
Passiflora | Argemone | Coleus | Thyreus (13) | |
Pentas | Brassica | Crotalarieae | Antigonon | |
Pergularia | Brassicaceae | Triumfetta | Coleus | |
Poaceae | Clerodendrum | Nomada (4) | Cosmos | |
Poales | Coccinia | Cirsium | Lantana | |
Pseuderanthemum | Cocos | Cleome | Leea | |
Pterolobium | Colebrookea | Oxalis | Leucas | |
Rosa | Coreopsis | Tecoma | Mesosphaerum | |
Sambucus | Cosmos | Nomada furva (1) | Ocimum | |
Santalum | Curculigo | Alternanthera | Premna | |
Senna | Gaillardia | Nomia (12) | Rotheca | |
Sesamum | Impatiens | Anisomeles | Senegalia | |
Sphagneticola | Ipomoea | Cleome | Sida | |
Stachytarpheta | Leea | Crotalaria | Stachytarpheta | |
Syzygium | Leucas | Derris | Thyreus himalayensis (1) | |
Tecoma | Luffa | Euphorbia | Lippia | |
Tephrosia | Momordica | Grewia | Xanthoceratina (1) | |
Tribulus | Muntingia | Hamelia | Mazus | |
Tridax | Nymphaeaceae | Pseuderanthemum | Xanthosarus (2) | |
Turnera | Oxalis | Salvia | Crotalaria | |
Urena | Passiflora | Scoparia | Sesamum | |
Wrightia | Plumbago | Solanum | ||
Zinnia | Pseuderanthemum | Tradescantia |
Comments
Pseuderanthemum is mentioned 6 times. Could have clubbed it as Pseuderanthemum(6) instead.
@harshithjv I believe Pseuderanthemum is mentioned individually under each bee. And there are many multiples like that. We have to read the table per bee as it's a full compilation. Am I missing something?
@kartik_83 Ok cool. :)
most interesting data, thank you for doing this project. Key take out for me - reinforces my believe in Calotropis as an important plant, it needs more attention, poor thing, it is considered weed and people dont like it in their gardens and on other hand it has deep religious cues. Species with less 5 nectar plant are vulnerable ? May also low data points.
@karthik_83 nice work & presentation, thank you for your time & support. Thanks to all the people who's supporting for this in one or other ways.
@sagarika_chen It's just a starting, still long way to go. This data is not a proper representative and we just wish to show project progress to fellow participants/community naturalists. The reason for highest number of Calotropis interactions compared to other plants is because they're easy to identifiable (atleast to me, I added many numbers of Calotropis observations), so you can see that the data is biased (for now, we may improvise this in the upcoming days), still long list of different flower interactions left to be added. We have lack of active and reliable plant identifiers and also lack of active participants.
@karthik_83 The representation has come out really nicely, thanks to all your handwork!
Coming to @sagarika_chen's points
I wanted to know about the insects visiting Calotropis, the number 93 represents observations, right? We can see about 12 species of bees visit Calotropis in total. Also how the plants grow, the months of flowering and hours of bee activity are some of the important parameters as well.
All in all, Exciting to see how things are building up.
Cheers!
@sagarika_chen Sagarika, good points and questions there. While this data, collected over the course of a year, may still not be very representative, it is still significant. And I believe Calotropis, and perhaps other plants, may have some unique relationship with Bees. A quick look up showed some studies in different parts of the world where Calotropis were extensively pollinated by Bees, particularly Xylocopa. Incidentally, Xylocopa happen to be some of the larger bees and so, perhaps relatively easier to photograph (and so, that's a bias in itself?), and Xylocopa have been the most commonly observed group of bees too. I agree that Calotropis may be easier to identify because of the familiarity in the cultural context, but Lantana or Millettia or others may also be relatively well-known or easy to ID?
While the data from the Lepidoptera Nectar project is still very new, Calotropis was not in the top nectaring plants out of some 1700 initial observations. In fact, Calotropis had only one single observation. Lantana was most common there, but not here. We have to wait to see where that data points us eventually, but there may be some plant species that prefer bees for pollination (a documented fact, right?).
These projects should get better with time and more observations and from different regions and seasons.
@azhagu @johnascher @bdagley @susanna_h and others would know better.
@siddarthmachado @shiwalee @chitrashanker @sayeegirdhari would also have notes to add to this.
Gaurav, yes, 93 was the total number of observations. And you're right about 12 unique bees having been seeing on Calotropis. Also, the hard work was all Azhagu's, I just drew some plots on Excel. @gs5
Great job.
Great effort and collaboration from everyone!
Sorry, I dont know enough about plant-insect interaction, so I can't comment.
Add a Comment