Presentation Details
| Pollination efficacy varies with pollinator size and foraging behavior Sydney Baldwin, Laura Russo. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA |
Abstract
The mutualism between plants and pollinators is increasingly at risk due to anthropogenic change. It is crucial to conserve this mutualism to maintain healthy ecosystems and agricultural production, but we still do not know what attributes make flower-visiting insects effective pollinators. To explore this question, we examined three different attributes of flower-visiting insects: foraging behavior (visit duration and resource foraged), body size, and species identity. Over two years, we collected field data on pollinator efficacy (seed set) through single-visit observations on Asteraceae plants. Visit duration had a positive effect on seed set, with the resource collected (pollen vs nectar) predicting visit duration. However, pollination efficiency (seeds per second) interacted with pollinator body size. Although small bees had the highest visit duration, visits from large bees resulted in a higher seed set. The species identity of pollinators did not influence seed set, but honeybees had a significantly higher pollination efficiency than any other genus, meaning they set more seeds per second visit duration than other visiting insects.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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