Alicia M. Basilio
University of Buenos Aires
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Featured researches published by Alicia M. Basilio.
American Journal of Botany | 1998
Marcelo A. Aizen; Alicia M. Basilio
We examined diurnal and nocturnal nectar secretion across sexual stages in protandrous Alstroemeria aurea, a bumble bee-pollinated herb with long-lived flowers native to the southern Andes. We found the following patterns: (1) most nectar was produced diurnally and (2) three times more sugar was secreted during the male than female phase, not only because the male phase lasted longer but also because the rate of nectar production was higher. This 3:1 ratio in nectar production matched the ratio of the minimum number of bumble bee visits required on average to saturate male (pollen removal) vs. female (seed set) functions. Standing crop of nectar, on the other hand, did not differ greatly between male- and female- stage flowers left open to visitors, because the high-production male-phase flowers were visited more frequently than female- phase flowers. In an experiment concurrent with the repeated nectar sampling of individual flowers over their life-span, we removed pollen from anthers or deposited pollen on stigmas by hand. Neither treatment, designed to mimic effects of visits by Alstroemerias native bumble bee pollinator, affected nectar production. The absence of plasticity in nectar secretion in relation to pollination events may reflect a low cost of nectar production, or may result from developmental constraints related to the evolution of the synchronous protandry that characterizes A. aurea.
Plant Systematics and Evolution | 2001
Alicia M. Basilio
Abstract. We studied the reproductive behavior of Colletia spinosissima Gmel. at six sites in two regions of Argentina during the 1998–2000 flowering seasons. Flowering takes place in winter. The flowers are homogamous, fragrant, and entomophilous. There was evidence of self-incompatibility and cross-incompatibility between nearby partners. Fruit set of open-pollinated flowers (13.3%) seemed pollen-limited, since low fecundity was consistently associated with small stigmatic pollen loads and with low numbers of successful pollen tubes, and fecundity increased with abundance of efficient pollinators. Reproductive success (percent ovules becoming viable seeds) was 3.6. It is hypothesized that homogamy was established in Colletia because in an impoverished pollination environment – such as the one likely prevailing when this lineage evolved – achieving pollen export and receipt in a single pollinator visit has selective advantages. A large stigma and an extragynoecial compitum would compensate for the homogamy-driven, increased pollen-stigma interference.
Journal of Apicultural Research | 2014
Juan Pablo Torretta; Silvana P. Durante; Alicia M. Basilio
Summary Nests of the leafcutting bee Megachile (Chrysosarus) catamarcensis Schrottky (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) were obtained during a 24 month trap-nesting programme in a xeric forest in the Province of La Pampa, Argentina. Nests were constructed in December and January; females made an average of 4.0 ± 2.2 cells, and used mud with flower petals and/or leaf pieces to build their nests. Provisions of cells were practically pure pollen mass of Proposis caldenia. Adult emergence showed a unimodal pattern, suggesting a univoltine life cycle. However, two individuals that emerged a month after the traps were collected indicate the existence of a small early-summer generation. This could indicate that M. catamarcensis, in some years (warmer) or in some populations (at lower latitudes), could exhibit a bivoltine life cycle. Approximately 15.3 % of all offspring failed to complete development to the adult stage, and an additional 13.9 % were killed by natural enemies. These included diverse parasitic wasps (Chrysididae, Sapygidae, and Leucospidae), a cleptoparasite bee (Megachilidae: Coelioxys), and a bee fly (Bombyliidae: Antrhax).
Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales | 2000
Alicia M. Basilio
Pollen gathering by Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera) in the lower Delta of the Parana River: bee behavior and pollen diversity. A melissopalinologycal analysis of Apis mellifera corbicular pollen loads was made in order to determine pollen origin and main pollen sources throughout the bee foraging season in the Delta of the Parana River. This analysis was based on 37 samples from the 1993-1994 beekeeping season. Bees gathered corbicular loads from about 20% of the available species throughout the season, but only 3% of these species were intensely used. The most abundant pollen grains belonged to Asteraceae, Leguminosae, Myrtaceae, Brassicaceae and Salicaceae. The pollen species varied throughout the sampling period. Nutritious quality was generally high. Anemophilous pollen types were harvested when the environmental offer dropped. Cultivated and exotic species heavily contributed at the end of winter and in spring, while native species were preferentially gathered in summer and autumn. The behavior of foraging bees was polylectic, with high pollen diversity in the corbicular loads and plasticity in use of local elements, and selective for the preferential use of lipidic -more energetic- pollen grains.
Austral Ecology | 2006
Alicia M. Basilio; Juan Pablo Torretta; Norberto J. Bartoloni
Botany | 1995
Marcelo A. Aizen; Alicia M. Basilio
Apidologie | 2012
Juan Pablo Torretta; Silvana P. Durante; María Guadalupe Colombo; Alicia M. Basilio
Darwiniana | 2011
Alicia M. Basilio; Edgardo J. Romero
Darwiniana | 1995
Laura B Gurini; Alicia M. Basilio
Behavioral Ecology | 2013
Paula Carolina Diaz; Andrés Arenas; Vanesa M. Fernández; Cinthia Soledad Susic Martín; Alicia M. Basilio; Walter M. Farina