Species diversity and pollination function of flower visiting thrips
Author of the article:CAO Jing-Yu, LIU Yan-Qiu, KANG Yi, XI Jing-Hui, WANG Jun
Author's Workplace:College of Plant Science, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, China
Key Words:pollinator; Thysanoptera; flower visiting thrips; taxonomy; volatile organic compounds (VOCs); chemoreceptors; coevolution
Abstract:Flower visiting
thrips are one component of pollinator insects and have important theoretical
and practical values in plant pollination, biodiversity protection and
sustainable use, pest control, and so on. However, there are few reports on the
pollination of thrips in China and wrong practices regarding all flower
visiting thrips as pest insects to exterminate. Based on previous field
collecting, identification and classification studies of flower visiting
thrips, we analyzed the literatures at home and abroad on taxonomy and
pollination ecology of flower visiting thrips, summarized the current status on
species diversity and the related research progress, elaborated the pollination
mechanism from morphological traits, phylogeny, chemical ecology of
pollinator-plant interaction system. The results provided knowledge for
broadening the research areas of pollinator insects biodiversity and
pollinator-plant coevolution. In the future, we should strengthen researches on
assessing the dual roles of damage and pollination on flower visiting thrips,
and measuring the effectiveness of pollination.