Current Research:
The density of a population’s floral display can greatly affect its reproductive output. By influencing pollinator behavior, a floral display can shape flower visitation rates, the number of flowers a pollinator visits per plant, and even the species composition of the pollinators. While it might be intuitive that more flowers would attract more pollinators and thus be beneficial to reproduction, higher floral abundances can also generate intraspecific competition between individuals and thus negatively impact reproductive success. My research investigates the effects of floral density on the reproductive output of Penstemon pachyphyllus growing in southwestern Utah. As P. pachyphyllus naturally occurs in dense patches, it is an excellent species for this study. In the summer of 2010, I spent 7 weeks in Zion National Park conducting in situ manipulations of floral density, vegetation surveys, pollinator observations, bee bowl collections, and gathering data on fruit and seed set. Armed with these data, I am exploring whether the density of P. pachyphyllus floral displays encourages facilitation or competition within the population, as measured by reproductive success.
Zion National Park, Utah
Bagging P. pachyphyllus for seed collection
