Specialist nectar-yeasts decline with urbanization in Berlin

Wehner, Jeannine; Mittelbach, Moritz; Rillig, Matthias C.; Verbruggen, Erik

doi:10.1038/srep45315

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Belisle et al ., ; Vannette & Fukami, ), while A. pullulans has a broader habitat range (e.g. Andrews et al ., ; Wehner et al ., ). The ecological affinities of the bacterial taxa profiled here are unknown, but strains from these genera have been found in floral nectar in other studies previously (Vannette et al ., ; Good et al ., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Nectar‐inhabiting microorganisms influence nectar volatile composition and attractiveness to a generalist pollinator

et al. 2017

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SummaryThe plant microbiome can influence plant phenotype in diverse ways, yet microbial contribution to plant volatile phenotype remains poorly understood. We examine the presence of fungi and bacteria in the nectar of a coflowering plant community, characterize the volatiles produced by common nectar microbes and examine their influence on pollinator preference.Nectar was sampled for the presence of nectar-inhabiting microbes. We characterized the headspace of four common fungi and bacteria in a nectar analog. We examined electrophysiological and behavioral responses of honey bees to microbial volatiles. Floral headspace samples collected in the field were surveyed for the presence of microbial volatiles.Microbes commonly inhabit floral nectar and the common species differ in volatile profiles. Honey bees detected most microbial volatiles tested and distinguished among solutions based on volatiles only. Floral headspace samples contained microbial-associated volatiles, with 2-ethyl-1-hexanol and 2-nonanone -both detected by bees -more often detected when fungi were abundant.Nectar-inhabiting microorganisms produce volatile compounds, which can differentially affect honey bee preference. The yeast Metschnikowia reukaufii produced distinctive compounds and was the most attractive of all microbes compared. The variable presence of microbes may provide volatile cues that influence plant-pollinator interactions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Nectar‐inhabiting microorganisms influence nectar volatile composition and attractiveness to a generalist pollinator

et al. 2017

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“…Many of these species are found almost exclusively in nectar or on the animals that visit flowers to forage for nectar such as bees and hummingbirds (Belisle, Mendenhall, Brenes, & Fukami, ; Brysch‐Herzberg, ). Nectar microbes rely on these animals for dispersal among flowers (Belisle et al., ; de Vega, Herrera, & Johnson, ; Wehner, Mittelbach, Rillig, & Verbruggen, ). As such, flowers represent discrete and ephemeral habitats (Toju, Vannette, Gauthier, Dhami, & Fukami, ) where environmental sorting and dispersal limitation can be studied relatively easily (Belisle, Peay, & Fukami, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic diversity of a nectar yeast clusters into metabolically, but not geographically, distinct lineages

et al. 2018

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Both dispersal limitation and environmental sorting can affect genetic variation in populations, but their contribution remains unclear, particularly in microbes. We sought to determine the contribution of geographic distance (as a proxy for dispersal limitation) and phenotypic traits (as a proxy for environmental sorting), including morphology, metabolic ability and interspecific competitiveness, to the genotypic diversity in a nectar yeast species, Metschnikowia reukaufii. To measure genotypic diversity, we sequenced the genomes of 102 strains of M. reukaufii isolated from the floral nectar of hummingbird-pollinated shrub, Mimulus aurantiacus, along a 200-km coastline in California. Intraspecific genetic variation showed no detectable relationship with geographic distance, but could be grouped into three distinct lineages that correlated with metabolic ability and interspecific competitiveness. Despite ample evidence for strong competitive interactions within and among nectar yeasts, a full spectrum of the genotypic and phenotypic diversity observed across the 200-km coastline was represented even at a scale as small as 200 m. Further, more competitive strains were not necessarily more abundant. These results suggest that dispersal limitation and environmental sorting might not fully explain intraspecific diversity in this microbe and highlight the need to also consider other ecological factors such as trade-offs, source-sink dynamics and niche modification.

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“…We found that the microorganisms that exhibited increases or decreases in relative abundance between the three sites were those most commonly found in other nectar microbiome studies [34,[74][75][76][77][78][79]. Acinetobacter has been identified as a nectar specialist efficient at producing acid from the metabolism of both glucose and sucrose [80], two sugars commonly found in A. curassavica nectar [47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Characterizing the nectar microbiome of the non-native tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in an urban environment

2020

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In increasingly urban landscapes, the loss of native pollen and nectar floral resources is impacting ecologically important pollinators. Increased urbanization has also brought about the rise of urban gardens which introduce new floral resources that may help replace those the pollinators have lost. Recently, studies have shown that the microbial communities of nectar may play an important role in plant-pollinator interactions, but these microbial communities and the floral visitors in urban environments are poorly studied. In this study we characterized the floral visitors and nectar microbial communities of Ascelpias curassavica, a non-native tropical milkweed commonly, in an urban environment. We found that the majority of the floral visitors to A. curassavica were honey bees followed closely by monarch butterflies. We also found that there were several unique visitors to each site, such as ants, wasps, solitary bees, several species of butterflies and moths, Anna's hummingbird, and the tarantula hawk wasp. Significant differences in the nectar bacterial alpha and beta diversity were found across the urban sites, although we found no significant differences among the fungal communities. We found that the differences in the bacterial communities were more likely due to the environment and floral visitors rather than physiological differences in the plants growing at the gardens. Greater understanding of the impact of urbanization on the nectar microbiome of urban floral resources and consequently their effect on plant-pollinator relationships will help to predict how these relationships will change with urbanization, and how negative impacts can be mitigated through better management of the floral composition in urban gardens.

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Specialist nectar-yeasts decline with urbanization in Berlin

Cited by 12 publications

References 38 publications

Nectar‐inhabiting microorganisms influence nectar volatile composition and attractiveness to a generalist pollinator

Nectar‐inhabiting microorganisms influence nectar volatile composition and attractiveness to a generalist pollinator

Genomic diversity of a nectar yeast clusters into metabolically, but not geographically, distinct lineages

Characterizing the nectar microbiome of the non-native tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in an urban environment

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