Phenological Patterns Among Tallgrass Prairie Plants and Their Implications for Pollinator Competition

Abstract

Flowering patterns of tall grass prairie species were analyzed using data available from the University of Wisconsin Arboretum for 1950 and 1951. Prairie plants tend to stagger their flowering times so that competition for pollinators can be reduced. Species that strongly overlapped in blooming times in the same habitat tended to have flowers less likely to attract the same pollinators than species with less overlap in blooming times.