From the 8th to the 11th of October the team has been working on the islet "Na Redona" from the National Park Cabrera for the 4rth time in the project Islets Food Webs. The aim of the campaign was to collect data for answer how Withania frutescens get pollinated, whether or not lizards has a mutualistic relationship with the plant. There are any differences among adults and juveniles or between males and females? Does the plant present auto-fecundation?
Day 1: 9h in the morning, in a boat, from Mallorca to Cabrera. Very quick, we leaved the foodstuff and the luggage (except our field equipment) at our home for this four days. After preparing some sandwiches for lunch, our captain-boat, Guillermo, take us to the islet “na Redona”. Landing at 10h was a bit difficult due to the currents, but after some attempts our captain achieve it. We started exploring, and looking for individuals of Whithania with bountiful of flowers and lizards.
We feel lucky to have with us Toni Escandell (take a look here on his nature film-works) who has been filming lizard-Withania interactions. At 3pm, after having the sandwiches, we started working on pollinator census, noticing that Podarcis adult males (which are bigger than females and juveniles) eat the hole flower, rather the females and juveniles which were shifting betwixt flower’s predation and flower’s visitation. To determine the presence of auto-fecundation, we put little bags on branches with flowers to compare among control flowers in fructification successful. We were coming back home with this beautiful ending day light.
Day 2: The sea was calm, so it was easier landing, and we could work until 7p.m. While working we could observe dolphins and hawks from the coast. We also take notes about the interaction between Macroglossum stellatarum and Narcissum. After the hard day’s work, we saw a Toni’s nature documental at home.
Day 3: Today at the pollination census we also observe the lizards predating the fruits!
At 11a.m. started raining, and the sea was rough. Our boat captain came at 11:30am to pick us and leave the campaing. After this the rain stopped, but it wasn't possible to land on the islet. So we spent the time visiting other islets with an easier landing. We were able to visit the most inhospitable sites of the archipelago!
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