Dear Wayne and ecolog list: Brown et al 2002 (and other papers by same author) report pollination interactions between purple loosestrife and native loosestrife species, in which the native suffered lower pollinator visitation, pollen deposition, and seed set in proximity to the invasive species.
Another example involving pollination: Spiranthes diluvialis is a rare orchid pollinated by bumblebees and a few kinds of native solitary long-tongued bees. It offers only nectar to the bees (they transport pollinia but do not collect them for food), thus the bees are dependent on contemporaneously flowering species in the community. Also, in the case of the bumblebee pollinators, the orchid also depends on plants flowering earlier and later, because the bumble bees are active all season. In my experience, these other plants that support Spiranthes' pollinators include many co-occuring non-natives, including yellow and white sweet clover, canada thistle, and bull thistle. This is mostly unpublished but I have some data in a government report regarding the use of non-native plants by Spiranthes pollinators. Regards, Sedonia Sipes > Finally, does anyone have any specific information on other examples > > of indigenous/alien species interactions? --- Sedonia Sipes Assistant Professor Department of Plant Biology Mail Code 6509 Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Carbondale, IL 62901-6509 (618) 453-3213 fax (618) 453-3441 http://www.science.siu.edu/plant-biology/BioPages/Sipes.bio.html
