Presentation Details
Polluted preferences: How anthropogenic volatile organic compounds influence pollinator behavior

Tierney M.Shaible1, Oscar Peterson2, Savannah McCabe2, Tyson Holifield2, Glen R.Hood1, Avery L.Russel2.

1Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.2Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, USA

Abstract


In urban areas, high pollution levels pose a significant threat to pollinators. Studies have shown that pollutants, like heavy metals, can reduce pollinator visits and negatively affect pollinator learning abilities and memory. Anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (aVOCs) are a class of contaminants which primarily enter the soil as byproducts of industry and fossil fuel combustion. As with other pollutants, plant uptake and release of aVOCs via flowers could affect pollinator behavior and thus pollination services; however, no such study has previously been conducted. We investigated how aVOCs affected floral preference and learning by laboratory bumble bees. When bees were presented with two types of colored flowers, they learned to visit the color that presented nectar without aVOCs and to reject the flower color with aVOCs. However, bees could not learn to associate the presence or absence of aVOCs alone with a nectar reward. Our results suggest bees learn to avoid plant species with more aVOCs, but they cannot learn to use aVOCs as a cue on its own to avoid flowers. This has implications for understanding the impacts of pollution on ecosystem services, such as pollination.

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