Nectar, Energy, Bees, and Microclimate

Southwick, Edward E.; Loper, G. M.; Sadwick, Steven E.

doi:10.2307/1308152

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Even within our study, the effect size of nectar extraction on honey bee pollen deposition and handling time varied somewhat across the three study years, which is somewhat discouraging for pollination studies attempting to correct for this bias. These year-to-year differences could be due to variability in foraging strategies by local honey bee populations and floral density (Schmid-Hempel & Schmid-Hempel, 1987) or in floral nectar accumulation due to microclimatic conditions (Southwick et al, 1981). Instead, knowledge of which pollinator taxa do or do not consistently respond to bagging-induced elevated nectar volumes will be more critical than quantifying precise effect sizes when measuring pollinator performance in agro-ecosystems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floral bagging differentially affects handling behaviours and single‐visit pollen deposition by honey bees and native bees

Cecala

Lau

Leong

2020

Ecological Entomology

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1. Measurements of pollinator performance are crucial to pollination studies, enabling researchers to quantify the relative value of different pollinator species to plant reproduction. One of the most widely employed measures of pollinator performance is single‐visit pollen deposition, the number of conspecific pollen grains deposited to a stigma after one pollinator visit. To ensure a pollen‐free stigma, experimenters must first bag flowers before exposing them to a pollinator. 2. Bagging flowers, however, may unintentionally manipulate floral characteristics to which pollinators respond. In this study, we quantified the effect of bagging on nectar volume in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) flowers, and how this affects pollinator performance and behaviour. 3. Experimental bagging resulted in roughly 30‐fold increases in nectar volume relative to unmanipulated, open‐pollinated field flowers after only a few hours. Honey bees, but not native bees, consistently displayed elevated handling times and single‐visit pollen deposition on unmanipulated bagged flowers relative to those from which we removed nectar to mimic volumes in open‐pollinated flowers. 4. Furthermore, we identify specific bee foraging behaviours during a floral visit that account for differences in pollen deposition, and how these differ between honey bees and native bees. 5. Our findings suggest that experimental bagging of flowers, without accounting for artificially accumulated nectar, can lead to biased estimates of pollinator performance in pollinator taxa that respond strongly to nectar volume. We advise that pollination studies be attentive to nectar secretion dynamics in their focal plant species to ensure unbiased estimates of pollinator performance across multiple pollinator species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%