Limited Cross Plant Movement and Non-Crop Preferences Reduce the Efficiency of Honey Bees as Pollinators of Hybrid Carrot Seed Crops

Gaffney, Ann; Bohman, Björn; Quarrell, Stephen R.; Brown, Philip H.; Allen, Gordon

doi:10.3390/insects10020034

Cited by 14 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…In contrast, we found that both insects visited more hermaphrodite than female lines. Similar was found in other hybrid crops, such as carrots (Gaffney et al 2019), rapeseed mustard, sunflower and faba bean (Abrol 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

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Understanding pollinator foraging behaviour and transition rates between flowers is important to maximize seed set in hybrid crops

et al. 2020

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Hybrid cauliflower production predominately relies on pollen transfer from hermaphrodite to female lines by honeybees. However, the presence of other pollinators may impact pollination success. Here, we investigate how honeybee visitation frequency and behaviour vary with plant sex and presence of blowflies and affect seed and pod set. We found substantial pollen limitation when honeybees were alone. This was likely due to their higher visitation to hermaphrodite flowers, infrequent transition from hermaphrodite to female flowers and high nectar theft in female flowers. Pollen foragers fed on nectar on hermaphrodite, but not female flowers. Moreover, when blowflies were present, the seed set was lower than that with honeybees alone. Our study highlights the importance of understanding the plant mating system and pollinator foraging behaviour with and without other species present in order to maximize seed set in hybrid crops.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Several studies in hybrid seed crops have found that honeybees are not efficient pollinators (Abrol 2012;Gaffney et al 2019;Robinson 2019). Failure to set seed in hybrid crops has often been attributed to the poor attractiveness of female plants to honeybees that are foraging for pollen since they have no pollen reward (Parker 1982).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding pollinator foraging behaviour and transition rates between flowers is important to maximize seed set in hybrid crops

et al. 2020

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“…In general, male sterile carrot flowers (not producing pollen) are the least visited [3], warranting the analysis of nectar as the likely most important reward. However, our analysis indicated that nectar composition varies greatly between umbellets within cultivars but not significantly among cultivars.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have reported species-selective pollinator visitation to hybrid carrot seed crops including pollinators such as A. mellifera [2,3,[6][7][8], flies [9,10], Megachile bees [11], and other native bees [12], but there appear to be no reports on carrot pollinator assemblage level visitation to different CMS cultivars, despite strong indications of differences in pollinator attraction among cultivars [13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Carrot flowers are unattractive to honey bees ( Apis mellifera Linnaeus), which often seek out other available forage [ 1 ]. Hybrid or cytoplasmically male-sterile (CMS) cultivars are particularly unattractive, as they do not provide pollen [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Such cultivars are also believed to be inferior in their morphology, scent, and nectar production to male fertile (MF) plants [ 5 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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It Is Not All about Being Sweet: Differences in Floral Traits and Insect Visitation among Hybrid Carrot Cultivars

Gaffney

Bohman

Quarrell

et al. 2020

Insects

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Cytoplasmically male-sterile (CMS) carrot cultivars suffer from low pollination rates. In this study, insect visitation varied more than eightfold between 17 CMS carrot cultivars in a field-based cultivar evaluation trial. The visitation rates of honey bees, nectar scarabs, muscoid flies, and wasps each significantly differed among these cultivars. No significant difference in visitation rates was observed among cultivars of different CMS type (brown-anther or petaloid) or flower colour, but cultivars of Berlicumer root type had significantly higher insect visitation rates than Nantes. Six cultivars were further compared in regard to selected umbel traits: as umbel diameter increased, so did the visitation of soldier beetles, while that of honey bees decreased. Finally, nectar of these six cultivars was analysed for sugar content, which revealed monosaccharides to be the most common sugars in all. There was high variation in the levels of sugars from individual umbellets but no significant difference in nectar sugar composition among cultivars, suggesting that nectar sugar composition is of minor importance regarding pollinator attraction to hybrid CMS carrot umbels.

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The golden native drone fly (Eristalinus punctulatus) is an effective hybrid carrot pollinator that lives within Australian crop agroecosystems

Davis,

Schmidt,

Santos

et al. 2023

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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Native insect flower visitors can be important contributors to crop pollination, yet little is known of their pollination abilities and the resources (habitat) they need to be supported within crop agroecosystems. Here, we compared the abundance and pollination abilities of the golden drone fly (Eristalinus punctulatus) to the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) in hybrid carrot crop fields known to produce variable seed yields in regional New South Wales, Australia. We further observed the egg‐laying behaviours of female golden drone flies at a commercial berry orchard to provide insight into the habitat needs of this species. In hybrid carrot crop fields, golden drone flies were far less abundant flower visitors than European honey bees; however, these flies deposited more carrot pollen grains on average (8.21 ± 3.04 SE) onto carrot flowers than European honey bees (3.45 ± 1.06 SE). Both insects also deposited pollen onto a similar number of carrot flowers (pollinated) per visit (about 2 out of 18). Golden drone flies were observed laying eggs within masses of discarded red raspberry plant roots and soil (root balls) at a commercial berry orchard. The natural habitat utilised by these flies, as well as their egg‐laying behaviours, were described for the first time. Our results indicate that golden drone flies are effective pollinators of hybrid carrot crop plants. The habitat that these flies utilised to lay eggs (discarded plants and water) is cheap and commonly found in crop agroecosystems. Therefore, we recommend placing this low‐cost habitat within, or nearby, crop fields as a potential management practice to support the lifecycle needs of golden drone flies and other non‐bee pollinators.

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Limited Cross Plant Movement and Non-Crop Preferences Reduce the Efficiency of Honey Bees as Pollinators of Hybrid Carrot Seed Crops

Cited by 14 publications

References 36 publications

Understanding pollinator foraging behaviour and transition rates between flowers is important to maximize seed set in hybrid crops

Understanding pollinator foraging behaviour and transition rates between flowers is important to maximize seed set in hybrid crops

It Is Not All about Being Sweet: Differences in Floral Traits and Insect Visitation among Hybrid Carrot Cultivars

The golden native drone fly (Eristalinus punctulatus) is an effective hybrid carrot pollinator that lives within Australian crop agroecosystems

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