Eristalis tenax in Helianthemum croceum

Most angiosperms require the service of pollinators for reproduction, in temperate-zone communities ca. 78% of species are animal-pollinated plants a figure that increases to 94% in tropical communities. In addition, plant-pollinator interactions are critical also for human welfare.

In our project, pollination intensity was directly estimated through floral visitors censuses with a community approach, conducted on permanent square plots in which we repeatedly count open and visited flowers per species and the identity of the visitor, on different dates along the flowering season. Pollinators identification is not always straightforward in the wild; therefore, for the purpose of the comparative study among region we established a number of common functional groups.