Bee and floral traits affect the characteristics of the vibrations experienced by flowers during buzz-pollination

Arroyo-Correa, Blanca; Beattie, Ceit Elisabeth; Vallejo‐Marín, Mario

doi:10.1242/jeb.198176

Cited by 45 publications

(68 citation statements)

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“…Thus, for a smaller bee, trying to raise sonication frequency significantly above an already high flight frequency may be energetically more difficult than it is for a larger bee that is starting off at a much lower flight frequency. In fact, regardless of body size, the maximum value of sonication fundamental frequencies reported for bees is about 400 Hz (Arroyo-Correa et al, 2019;Burkart et al, 2011;Corbet, Chapman, & Saville, 1988;King, 1993;Macior, 1968;Rosi-Denadai et al, 2018;Switzer & Combes, 2017), including the new data presented here. This value may thus represent an upper physiological limit for producing floral sonication vibrations regardless of body size.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…Accordingly, we have identified some robust relationships within the buzz‐pollination syndrome. First, the frequencies used to generate floral vibrations are not tightly linked with body size, which may allow an individual bee to use different sonication frequencies when visiting different kinds of buzz‐pollinated flowers (Arroyo‐Correa et al, ; Switzer & Combes, ), and thus take full advantage of the suite of plant species that may be available in a given habitat. This may promote a more generalized plant‐pollinator community assemblage within this syndrome in a given habitat (De Luca et al, ; Larson & Barrett, ; Rosi‐Denadai et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…on multiple plant species found that floral vibration frequency was either positively or negative correlated with body size depending on the metric that was used (i.e., mass or intertegular distance) (Corbet & Huang, 2014;Switzer & Combes, 2017). Most recently, Arroyo-Correa, Beattie, and Vallejo-Marín (2019) found that floral vibration frequency was positively associated with bee size in two species of Bombus spp. foraging on two types of Solanum flowers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does body size predict the buzz‐pollination frequencies used by bees?

Luca

Buchmann

Galen

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Body size is an important trait linking pollinators and plants. Morphological matching between pollinators and plants is thought to reinforce pollinator fidelity, as the correct fit ensures that both parties benefit from the interaction. We investigated the influence of body size in a specialized pollination system (buzz‐pollination) where bees vibrate flowers to release pollen concealed within poricidal stamens. Specifically, we explored how body size influences the frequency of buzz‐pollination vibrations. Body size is expected to affect frequency as a result of the physical constraints it places on the indirect flight muscles that control the production of floral vibrations. Larger insects beat their wings less rapidly than smaller‐bodied insects when flying, but whether similar scaling relationships exist with floral vibrations has not been widely explored. This is important because the amount of pollen ejected is determined by the frequency of the vibration and the displacement of a bee's thorax. We conducted a field study in three ecogeographic regions (alpine, desert, grassland) and recorded flight and floral vibrations from freely foraging bees from 27 species across four families. We found that floral vibration frequencies were significantly higher than flight frequencies, but never exceeded 400 Hz. Also, only flight frequencies were negatively correlated with body size. As a bee's size increased, its buzz ratio (floral frequency/flight frequency) increased such that only the largest bees were capable of generating floral vibration frequencies that exceeded double that of their flight vibrations. These results indicate size affects the capacity of bees to raise floral vibration frequencies substantially above flight frequencies. This may put smaller bees at a competitive disadvantage because even at the maximum floral vibration frequency of 400 Hz, their inability to achieve comparable thoracic displacements as larger bees would result in generating vibrations with lower amplitudes, and thus less total pollen ejected for the same foraging effort.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does body size predict the buzz‐pollination frequencies used by bees?

Luca

Buchmann

Galen

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…In another wonderful example of convergent evolution, it is estimated that around 6% of flowering plants, comprising species from multiple plant families, are primarily buzz-pollinated [1,2]. Among these species, the most common anther type is poricidal, where pollen grains tend to be stored inside non-dehiscent anther tubes with small pores at the tip [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[4]. Unlike other insect pollinators (e.g., Lepidoptera), buzz pollinators produce floral vibrations using their thoracic muscles and use their other body parts including mandibles, head and abdomen to release the pollen from these anthers [1,[5][6][7][8][9], an ability confined to a few insect genera. Although studies on ecology and evolutionary biology of buzz pollination have been carried out for more than a century [10], the biomechanics, pollinator physiology and behavior in relation to buzzing have only recently gained an increased interest [1,11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency of using electric toothbrush as an alternative to a tuning fork for artificial buzz pollination is independent of instrument buzzing frequency

2020

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Background: Breeding programs and research activities where artificial buzz-pollinations are required to have primarily relied upon using tuning forks, and bumble bees. However, these methods can be expensive, unreliable, and inefficient. To find an alternative, we tested the efficiency of pollen collection using electric toothbrushes and compared it with tuning forks at three vibration frequencies-low, medium, and high and two extraction times at 3 s and 16 s-from two buzz-pollinated species (Solanum lycopersicum and Solanum elaeagnifolium). Results:Our results show that species, and extraction time significantly influenced pollen extraction, while there were no significant differences for the different vibration frequencies and more importantly, the use of a toothbrush over tuning fork. More pollen was extracted from S. elaeagnifolium when compared to S. lycopersicum, and at longer buzzing time regardless of the instrument used. Conclusions:Our results suggest that electric toothbrushes can be a viable and inexpensive alternative to tuning forks, and regardless of the instrument used and buzzing frequency, length of buzzing time is also critical in pollen extraction.

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Floral orientation affects outcross‐pollen deposition in buzz‐pollinated flowers with bilateral symmetry

Nevard

Vallejo‐Marín

2022

American J of Botany

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Premise: Floral orientation is central to plant-pollinator interactions and is commonly associated with floral symmetry. Bilaterally symmetrical flowers are often oriented horizontally for optimal pollinator positioning and pollen transfer efficiency, while the orientation of radially symmetrical flowers is variable. Buzz-pollinated species (pollinated by vibration-producing bees) include bilateral, horizontally oriented flowers, and radial, pendant flowers. The effect of floral orientation on pollen transfer has never been tested in buzz-pollinated species. Methods: Here, we examined the effect of floral orientation on bumblebee-mediated pollen deposition in three buzz-pollinated Solanum species with different floral symmetry and natural orientations: S. lycopersicum and S. seaforthianum (radial, pendant), and S. rostratum (bilateral, horizontal). We tested whether orientation affects total stigmatic pollen deposition (both self and outcross pollen) when all flowers have the same orientation (either pendant or horizontal). In a second experiment, we evaluated whether different orientations of donor and recipient flowers affects the receipt of outcross pollen by S. rostratum. Results: For the three Solanum species studied, there was no effect of floral orientation on total pollen deposition (both self and outcross) when flowers shared the same orientation. In contrast, in our experiment with S. rostratum, we found that pendant flowers received fewer outcross-pollen grains when paired with pendant donors. Conclusions: We suggest that floral orientation influences the quality of pollen transferred, with more outcross pollen transferred to horizontally oriented recipients in the bilaterally symmetrical S. rostratum. Whether other bilaterally symmetrical, buzz-pollinated flowers also benefit from increased cross-pollination when presented horizontally remains to be established.

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Bee and floral traits affect the characteristics of the vibrations experienced by flowers during buzz-pollination

Cited by 45 publications

References 45 publications

Does body size predict the buzz‐pollination frequencies used by bees?

Does body size predict the buzz‐pollination frequencies used by bees?

Efficiency of using electric toothbrush as an alternative to a tuning fork for artificial buzz pollination is independent of instrument buzzing frequency

Floral orientation affects outcross‐pollen deposition in buzz‐pollinated flowers with bilateral symmetry

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