How well do acoustic recordings characterize properties of bee (<i>Anthophila</i>) floral sonication vibrations?

Luca, Paul A. De; Giebink, Noah; Mason, Andrew C.; Papaj, Dan R.; Buchmann, Stephen L.

doi:10.1080/09524622.2018.1511474

Cited by 21 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Accordingly, a microphone can be used to record these sounds which can then be analyzed for their spectral and temporal parameters. A recent study confirmed that acoustic measures of the duration and fundamental frequency of floral sonication vibrations serve as reliable proxies for the true vibrational values of these parameters (see: De Luca, Giebink, Mason, Papaj, & Buchmann, ). We made visual searches of foraging bees beginning after sunrise and ending by the mid‐afternoon as bee activity declined.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 76%

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: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 76%

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

Luca

Buchmann

Galen

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…An approach often taken to characterise floral vibrations during buzz pollination is to use acoustic recordings. Audio recordings provide accurate estimates of some aspects of substrate-borne vibrations, such as frequency and duration, but are less reliable in estimating the amplitude component (De Luca et al, 2018). As floral vibrations are in essence a substrate-borne phenomenon, measurements of the vibrations experienced by flowers thus require the vibrations transmitted to the flowers to be assessed directly using, for example, accelerometers or laser vibrometers (Vallejo-Marín, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Arroyo-Correa

Beattie

Vallejo‐Marín

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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During buzz pollination, bees use their indirect flight muscles to produce vibrations that are transmitted to the flowers and result in pollen release. Although buzz pollination has been known for >100 years, we are still in the early stages of understanding how bee and floral characteristics affect the production and transmission of floral vibrations. Here, we analysed floral vibrations produced by four closely related bumblebee taxa (Bombus spp.) on two buzzpollinated plants species (Solanum spp.). We measured floral vibrations transmitted to the flower to establish the extent to which the mechanical properties of floral vibrations depend on bee and plant characteristics. By comparing four bee taxa visiting the same plant species, we found that peak acceleration, root mean-squared acceleration (RMS) and frequency vary between bee taxa, but that neither bee size (intertegular distance) nor flower biomass (dry mass) affects peak acceleration, RMS or frequency. A comparison of floral vibrations of two bee taxa visiting flowers of two plant species showed that, while bee species affects peak acceleration, RMS and frequency, plant species only affects acceleration (peak acceleration and RMS), not frequency. When accounting for differences in the transmission of vibrations across the two types of flower, using a species-specific 'coupling factor', we found that RMS acceleration and peak displacement do not differ between plant species. This suggests that bees produce the same initial acceleration in different plants but that transmission of these vibrations through the flower is affected by floral characteristics.

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“…We used S. citrullifolium and S. heterodoxum to estimate the fundamental frequency of bee buzzes (Figure 2). We placed a single flower in the flight cage, allowing a bee to forage freely for approximately 10 minutes (visitation bout), and recording the audible component of floral vibrations (Zoom Hn4 Pro Handy, Zoom North America, Hauppauge, NY)[29] at 44kHz sampling rate for up to three minutes of floral buzzes. Fresh flowers were used for each bout.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%