Syrphid fly distributions along an elevation gradient in and around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL)
Abstract
Much is known about bee pollination, but there is little information concerning pollination by syrphid flies. Syrphid flies are also important to study because they are the most significant flower visiting Dipteran insects, which are the second most important order among flower-visiting and flower-pollinating insects. Describing abundance and diversity along an elevation allows for the exploration of abiotic and biotic drivers of distribution. Our knowledge of syrphids needs to be enhanced concerning (i) How does syrphid abundance change over an elevation gradient, (ii) How does the number of syrphid morphospecies change over an elevation gradient, and (iii) What biotic and abiotic factors are associated with syrphid fly abundance and diversity? A five-week observational study was carried out at five weather stations in and around RMBL, covering an elevation range of 561m. Flower abundance was recorded at each site, followed by sampling of syrphids. Linear regression analysis revealed that day of year correlated to the number of individuals as well as number of morphospecies. Percent cloud cover also correlated to the number of individual syrphids. This could possibly be because fly detection increased as time went on and/or there are more flies later in the season. Elevation is correlated to number of flowers and number of flower species. This could possibly reflect the year, in that there was a lot of frost damage at lower elevations. It is important to continue this study to see if this is a common trend or unique to this drought year.
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