%0 Journal Article
%T Elevation gradients of flower visitation on a mesa in the Nama Karoo, South Africa
%A P Kirk
%A F Gilbert
%J Egyptian Journal of Biology
%D 2009
%I Egyptian British Biological Society
%X We investigated the composition of the insect fauna visiting flowers on the mesa of Tafelberg (Eastern Cape, South Africa). During the season-long study, 1825 individuals of 55 insect species were recorded visiting flowers of 28 species plants within permanent quadrats. Four taxa were very common as flower visitors, with between 2-300 individual visits recorded (one species from each of the orders of Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera). Two-thirds of all visits were to the composite Pencia punctata (Asteraceae). There was a strong pattern to the diversity of the flower-visiting fauna, with diversity increasing with elevation. This pattern matched the availability of flowers, which were much more abundant on the top of Tafelburg than on its lower slopes.
%U http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ejb/article/view/56568