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opencc-zeroFeb 2023View details →

Island area and remoteness shape plant and soil bacterial diversity through land use and biological invasion

Biodiversity is declining dramatically due to human-driven land use change and biological invasion, but our knowledge of how such drivers influence plant and heterotroph diversity on island ecosystems remains limited. Historically island biogeography theory has focused solely on the direct effects of island size and remoteness on biodiversity, but these factors can also indirectly affect species gain and/or loss by impacting land use change and biological invasion. We built the structural equation model to explore the direct effects of island size and remoteness, and indirect effects of these factors via land use intensity and pinewood nematode invasion, on the diversity of plants and soil bacteria across 37 continental shelf islands in the largest land-bridge archipelago in eastern China. As expected we found that increasing island area directly promoted plant diversity. However, land use intensity increased with island area which also promoted plant diversity, and loss of pine forest by the pinewood nematode invasion increased with island remoteness which reduced plant diversity. Island remoteness only indirectly reduced plant diversity through increasing pine forest loss. Soil bacterial diversity was directly negatively impacted by island remoteness, and indirectly negatively impacted by island remoteness through increased soil electrical conductivity likely caused by greater salinity from sea spray. Furthermore, soil bacterial diversity was indirectly promoted by island area through increased plant diversity and decreased soil electrical conductivity, and indirectly reduced by pine forest loss through decreased plant diversity. Our findings highlight that island biogeography theory has relevance to understanding human impacts in the Anthropocene, and that there is a need to more explicitly recognize how island size and remoteness affect biodiversity not only directly, but also indirectly via their effects on human-induced drivers of biodiversity, such as land use change and biological invasion.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2022View details →

Analyzing defense-in-depth properties of nuclear power plant instrumentation and control system architectures using ontologies

A proof-of-concept OWL ontology for representing knowledge over nuclear overall instrumentation & control (I&C) system architectures, and two case studies built around a proposed US variant of the European Pressurized Water Reactor and the NuScale Small Modular Reactor.

opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

Data for: Implications of climate change for biocontrol efficacy across the northern range of the invasive plant Linaria dalmatica

The effect of insect biological control agents on invasive plant populations can vary spatially, and spatial variation in climate may drive regional variation in herbivory, and thus biocontrol efficacy. Within host plant populations, local plant abundance can also be affected by the spatial distribution of herbivores, but whether local patterns persist at larger scales is less well understood. We examined how infestation and damage of the stem-mining weevil Mecinus janthiniformis, a specialist biocontrol agent of the invasive plant Linaria dalmatica, varied with and among populations across the northern edge of the range in North America. We quantified weevil and invasive plant densities, as well as plant fecundity, stem diameter and height across sites spanning an area of ~39,000 km2 in British Columbia, Canada. We found that specialist weevils did not respond to host plant density within sites across the study region. Instead, weevil attack and load were most sensitive to among-site variability in climate, with stems at warmer sites have four times as many weevils compared to stems at cooler sites. Weevils also reduced plant fecundity more at warmer sites, when controlled for plant size (stem diameter) with larger effects of weevils in thicker stems, indicating that L. dalmatica suppression is highest in warmer locations where weevils are more abundant and environmental conditions more favorable. Our results suggest that, with climate change, the efficacy of biocontrol for L. dalmatica will improve across the northern edge of the range. We recommend that at cooler sites, where biocontrols are less prevalent and effects on plant fecundity are weaker, alternative management strategies are necessary at this time. Across invasive plant species more generally, future studies that establish the role of climate in variability in biocontrol efficacy long after introduction can improve management of invasive plants under climate change.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2023View details →

Dataset 2: The plant response to high CO2 levels is heritable and orchestrated by DNA methylation

This is a supporting dataset from the manuscript “The plant response to high CO2 levels is heritable and orchestrated by DNA methylation” by Panda et al. This dataset was used to study trans-generational growth responses to environments with contrasting CO2 levels. Raspberry Pi computers and cameras were used to image Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type (Columbia) and mutant (ago1-27, cmt2-7/cmt3-11t, ddm1-2, met1, pol IV, suvh4/suvh5/suvh6, and ubp1b) plants growing under ambient (450-500 ppm) and high (1000 ppm) CO2 conditions. Imaging was done hourly from overhead beginning on the 8th day after sowing and continued until the 25th day after sowing. Dataset 2 contains images of plants grown in the second round of the experiment under ambient and high CO2 conditions.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2023View details →

Dataset 1: The plant response to high CO2 levels is heritable and orchestrated by DNA methylation

This is a supporting dataset from the manuscript “The plant response to high CO2 levels is heritable and orchestrated by DNA methylation” by Panda et al. This dataset was used to study trans-generational growth responses to environments with contrasting CO2 levels. Raspberry Pi computers and cameras were used to image Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type (Columbia) and mutant (ago1-27, cmt2-7/cmt3-11t, ddm1-2, met1, pol IV, suvh4/suvh5/suvh6, and ubp1b) plants growing under ambient (450-500 ppm) and high (1000 ppm) CO2 conditions. Imaging was done hourly from overhead beginning on the 8th day after sowing and continued until the 25th day after sowing. Dataset 1 contains images of plants grown in the first round of the experiment under ambient and high CO2 conditions.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2023View details →

Dataset 3: The plant response to high CO2 levels is heritable and orchestrated by DNA methylation

This is a supporting dataset from the manuscript “The plant response to high CO2 levels is heritable and orchestrated by DNA methylation” by Panda et al. This dataset was used to study trans-generational growth responses to environments with contrasting CO2 levels. Raspberry Pi computers and cameras were used to image Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type (Columbia) and mutant (ago1-27, cmt2-7/cmt3-11t, ddm1-2, met1, pol IV, suvh4/suvh5/suvh6, and ubp1b) plants growing under ambient (450-500 ppm) and high (1000 ppm) CO2 conditions. Imaging was done hourly from overhead beginning on the 8th day after sowing and continued until the 25th day after sowing. Dataset 3 contains images of the plants grown in the third round of the experiment under ambient and high CO2 conditions. Plants were the progeny of plants from the first and second rounds.

opencc-by-4.0Feb 2023View details →

A quantitative autonomous bioluminescence reporter system with a wide dynamic range for Plant Synthetic Biology

This data set includes: Luminescence (NeoLuc Luminescence), Fluorescence (eGFP) , NeoLuc/eGFP ratios, Area Under The Curve of NeoLuc/eGFP ratios, Normalized Area Under The Curve of Neoluc/eGFP (FBP-RTAs), Firefly Luciferase luminescence (FLuc), Renilla Luciferase luminescence (RLuc), FLuc/RLuc ratios and Normalized  FLuc/RLuc values of all experiments in this work.

Drivers of strong isolation and small effective population size at a leading range edge of a widespread plant

Climate change has influenced species distributions worldwide with upward elevational shifts observed in many systems. Leading range edge populations, like those at upper elevation limits, are crucial for climate change responses but can exhibit low genetic diversity due to founder effects, isolation, or limited outbreeding. These factors can hamper local adaptation at range limits. Using the widespread herb, Argentina anserina, we measured ecological attributes (population density on the landscape, area of population occupancy, and plant and flower density) spanning a 1000m elevation gradient, with high elevation populations at the range limit. We measured vegetative clonal potential in the greenhouse for populations spanning the gradient. We combined these data with a ddRAD-seq dataset to test the hypotheses that high-elevation populations would exhibit ecological and genomic signatures of leading range edge populations. We found that population density on the landscape declined towards the high elevation limit, as is expected towards range edges. However, plant density was elevated within edge populations. In the greenhouse, high-elevation plants exhibited stronger clonal potential than low-elevation plants, likely explaining increased plant density in the field. Phylogeographic analysis supported more recent colonization of high-elevation populations which were also more genetically isolated, had more extreme heterozygote excess, and had smaller effective population size than low. Results support that colonization of high elevations was likely accompanied by increased asexuality, contributing to a decline in effective population size. Despite high plant density in leading-edge populations, their small effective size, isolation, and clonality could constrain adaptive potential.

Plant water use strategies predict restoration success across degraded drylands

<ul> <li>Plant strategies for coping with water limitation are likely to mediate restoration outcomes in degraded dryland ecosystems. Tradeoffs in traits related to water acquisition and use can intensify in more arid environments, making their effects on dryland restoration success even more salient. However, isolating the effects of drought responses from those of other environmental factors, as well as identifying the specific drought resistance traits that influence restoration success, can be difficult.</li> <li>In the present study, we couple a controlled dry-down experiment with a cross-site restoration field trial of out-planted seedlings (RestoreNet) using a suite of dryland herbaceous plant species from the same seed sources. We quantified interspecific variation in physiological responses to drought, specifically reductions in stomatal conductance (gs) and stem water potential (SWP), by comparing well-watered control plants to those experiencing decreasing soil moisture.</li> <li>Drought responses of SWP and gs varied independently among species, but both were related to survival in the cross-site restoration field trial when effect sizes were aggregated across all sites. Responses were consistent with acquisitive water use strategies resulting in greater success, where species with greater declines in SWP or weaker declines in gs under drought had greater survival. The correlation between SWP drought response and survival also intensified in sites with lower accumulated precipitation following restoration.</li> <li>Differences among functional groups revealed two different paths to restoration success: forbs that maintain high gs and narrow safety margins to maximize exploitation of moisture pulses before going into drought dormancy, or C4 grasses that maintain efficient water uptake in drying soils while risking cavitation. C3 grass species varied between these two strategies.</li> <li> Synthesis and applications: Taken together, the results of this study and others conducted at RestoreNet sites indicate that while a diversity of physiological responses to drought may exist in dryland plant communities, successfully restoring herbaceous species through out-planting in degraded conditions is likely to be achieved with species that maximize water uptake via one of two strategies, with tolerance of low SWP being particularly important in the most arid settings.</li> </ul>

Seed size, seed dispersal traits, and plant dispersion patterns for native and introduced grassland plants

Most terrestrial plants disperse by seeds, yet the relationship between seed mass, seed dispersal traits, and plant dispersion is poorly understood. We quantified seed traits for 48 species of native and introduced plants from grasslands of western Montana, USA, to investigate the relationships between seed traits and plant dispersion patterns. Additionally, because the linkage between dispersal traits and dispersion patterns might be stronger for actively dispersing species, we compared these patterns between native and introduced plants. Finally, we evaluated the efficacy of a global trait database, the TRY plant traits database, versus locally collected data for examining these questions. This archive contains species-level data used in analyses, including species metadata (origin, growth form), mean values of measured seed traits (size metrics and type of dispersal structures), two metrics of dispersion (local and broad scales, respectively) derived from grassland surveys in the study region, and information on the seed mass accessed from the TRY traits database. Note that the latter seed mass data could not be included in the archive, but can be acquired directly from the TRY plant traits database (<a href="https://www.try-db.org/TryWeb/Home.php">https://www.try-db.org/TryWeb/Home.php</a>).

Data for: Responses of soil phosphorus cycling and bioavailability to plant invasion in river-lake ecotones

The invasion of exotic plants in the river-lake ecotone has seriously affected the nutrient cycling processes in wetland soil. The South American species Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb. is rapidly invading the river-lake ecotone in subtropical China, and has become the dominant species in the river-lake ecotone. However, there have been few studies on the effects of A. philoxeroides invasion on soil phosphorus (P) cycling and bioavailability in this ecotone. Herein, we measured the bioavailable P fractions, physicochemical properties and nutrient content in the surface soils of the native plant (Zizania latifolia (Griseb.) Turcz and Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) communities and the adjacent invasive A. philoxeroides communities in three river-lake ecotones with different nutrient substrates in the subtropical Dongting Lake basin over a three-year period to reveal the effects of A. philoxeroides invasion on the morphology and concentrations of soil bioavailable P. The principal coordinate analysis results showed that A. philoxeroides invasion significantly altered the bioavailable P concentrations in the soil of native plant communities in the different river-lake ecotones, and this effect was not disturbed by the heterogeneity of the soil matrix. However, the effects of invasion into different native plant communities on the fractions of soil bioavailable P were different. Compared with native Z. latifolia and N. nucifera communities, A. philoxeroides invasion increased the concentration of inorganic P by 39.5% and 3.7%, respectively, and the concentration of organic P decreased by 32.7% and 31.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, the invasion promoted P cycling and accumulation in the river-lake ecotone, which resulted in average decreases in the soil N:P and C:P ratios of 7.9% and 12.5%, respectively. These results highlight the impact of exotic plant invasions on nutrient cycling in wetland ecosystems in the river-lake ecotone, and this process may be detrimental to the late recovery of native plants.

Data from: High vascular plant species richness in the Usumacinta River Basin: a comprehensive floristic checklist for a natural region in the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot

Background: Mesoamerica is one of the most important biodiversity hotspots on the planet. Despite significant efforts made over two centuries to contribute to the floristic knowledge of this region, our understanding of its flora is still scattered and uneven. Questions: What is the magnitude of the vascular plant species richness in the Usumacinta River Basin? Study site and dates: Usumacinta River Basin (Guatemala and Mexico), 1838–2018. Methods: We compiled the checklist by systematizing the floristic information acquired from various sources derived from numerous floristic and ecological studies. Results: We recorded 6,977 species, 1,892 genera, and 274 families. The largest numbers of species (5,746) and records (58,859) correspond to the Mexican portion of the Usumacinta River Basin, compared to its Guatemalan counterpart (4,445 species and 19,952 records). The most species-rich families were Orchidaceae (598 species), Fabaceae (512), and Asteraceae (476). The prevalence of these and all other families with significant contributions to the flora varied among three elevation-defined sectors into which the Usumacinta River Basin was subdivided (lower, middle, and upper basin). Conclusions: The Usumacinta River Basin is a strategic region for plant biodiversity conservation as it hosts almost one-third of all vascular plant species known for Mesoamerica and ca. 6 % of the entire flora in the Americas. Further botanical exploration should focus on those areas of the basin for which little or no information is available in order to gain a better appreciation of its flora.

Stronger effect of individual species' traits than shading on aquatic plant community productivity and interspecific competition

Competition is one of the major factors structuring plant communities. Species with similar traits generally compete more intensely and have more similar yield than functionally dissimilar species, which often respond differently to environmental change. Little is known about how the interacting species' traits influence the effect of environmental change on interspecific competition. However, theory predicts that environmental change should lead to more asymmetric competition, by favouring the species best adapted to the particular environmental change. Here we used a mesocosm experiment with three common aquatic plant species from the Baltic Sea (Northern Europe), to test how community productivity and competition asymmetry were affected by functional dissimilarity, individual species' traits, and a common stressor: shading. Competition asymmetry was defined as the absolute difference in reductions in yield relative to monocultures of two interacting species. Community productivity decreased and competition asymmetry increased with functional dissimilarity of the interacting species, possibly explained by the traits of the superior species, which had higher specific leaf area, maximum canopy height, and primary production rate than the subordinate species. Community productivity was not affected by shading, contrary to our expectation, while competition asymmetry was higher in shaded than ambient conditions. Individual species yield depended on species identity and species combination. Only the shortest species was negatively affected by shading. Thus, by favouring tall-growing species, shading can alter interspecific competition. Together, these findings suggest that non-random species loss following environmental change can be caused by competitive exclusion, in addition to a direct effect of abiotic filtering.

Impacts of ecological restoration on the genetic diversity of plant species: A global meta-analysis

1. In contrast to the depth of knowledge available for the enhancement of plant species diversity and ecosystem services through ecological restoration, our understanding of how ecological restoration impacts genetic diversity (GD) of plant species has not yet been synthesized. 2. We performed a global meta-analysis to examine whether ecological restoration improved GD of plant species in restored populations. First, we compared the GD of restored populations with reference or degraded populations. Second, we explored whether the influence of ecological restoration on plant GD varies between species with different characteristics (life form and threat status), between different restoration strategies (active/passive, seeding/planting, mixture/non-mixture) or between different restoration times (<50 and ≥50 years; with an average of 29.3 years). 3. The GD of restored populations was significantly lower (HE, 1.06%; PPB, 5.10%, and SWI, 4.95%) than in reference populations but was comparable to degraded populations. The inbreeding coefficient (FIS, the proportion by which the heterozygosity of an individual is reduced by inbreeding) was consistently comparable between restored populations and reference or degraded populations. 4. Woody species but not herbs had significantly lower GD in restored populations than in reference populations. Forest but not grassland ecosystem had significantly lower GD in restored populations than in reference populations. Passive but not active restoration, seeding rather than planting, and mixing materials from different sources rather than using a single source, all significantly increased the GD of restored populations. When the restoration time was ≥50 years, in contrast to <50 years, GD was comparable between the restored and reference populations. 5. Synthesis and applications. In general, ecological restoration did not significantly improve the GD of plant species compared to reference or degraded populations. This might be due in part to the relatively short restoration time. Using passive restoration, seeding, and mixed sources could significantly increase the GD of restored populations. We emphasize that GD should not be treated as a minor cobenefit of ecological restoration for other purposes and that the recovery of GD should be listed as a vital goal in future ecological restoration with plant species.

Plant growth strategy determines the magnitude and direction of drought-induced changes in root exudates in subtropical forests

Root exudates are an important pathway for plant-microbial interactions and are highly sensitive to climate change. However, how extreme drought affects root exudates and the main components, as well as species-specific differences in response magnitude and direction, are poorly understood. In this study, root exudation rates of total carbon (C) and its components (e.g., sugar, organic acid, and amino acid) were measured under the control and extreme drought treatments (i.e., 70% throughfall reduction) by in situ collection of four tree species with different growth rates in a subtropical forest. We also quantified soil properties, root morphological traits, and mycorrhizal infection rates to examine the driving factors underlying variations in root exudation. Our results showed that extreme drought significantly decreased root exudation rates of total C, sugar, and amino acid by 17.8%, 30.8%, and 35.0%, respectively, but increased root exudation rate of organic acid by 38.6%, which were largely associated with drought-induced changes in tree growth rates, root morphological traits, and mycorrhizal infection rates. Specifically, trees with relatively high growth rates were more responsive to drought for root exudation rates compared to those with relatively low growth rates, which were closely related to root morphological traits and mycorrhizal infection rates. These findings highlight the importance of plant growth strategy in mediating drought-induced changes in root exudation rates. The co-ordinations among root exudation rates, root morphological traits, and mycorrhizal symbioses in response to drought could be incorporated into land surface models to improve the prediction of climate change impacts on rhizosphere C dynamics in forest ecosystems.

Experimental warming increases the vulnerability of high-elevation plant populations to a specialist herbivore

<ol> <li>Ongoing climate change may impact alpine plant populations via both direct effects of increased temperature and climate-driven changes in interactions between plants and other organisms, such as insect herbivores. Rates of herbivory in high-elevation environments are predicted to increase with warmer temperatures, which may also lead to changes in morphological and physiological traits that influence plant resistance. Yet, we currently know little about how temperature-mediated changes in traits will impact alpine plant vulnerability to herbivores, as well as the extent to which populations from high-elevation environments might need to rapidly adapt to increasing herbivore pressure with rising temperatures.</li> <li>We assessed the effect of experimental warming on the relative vulnerability of populations of the alpine plant Arabis alpina from different elevations to a specialist herbivore. Herbivore performance was measured on plants from nine populations grown in climate chambers at two temperatures, representing low (warm) and high (cold) elevations. We also measured changes in putative drivers of performance: plant phenological, chemical and defence traits. Assuming populations would be adapted to local climates and levels of herbivory, we predicted that low-elevation populations would be more resistant to herbivores under warmer temperatures than high-elevation populations.</li> <li>We found reduced performance of a specialist herbivore on A. alpina grown under warm rather than cold conditions, though this effect varied with elevation. Larvae grew faster on high-elevation populations than low-elevation populations when grown under warm temperatures, whereas similar growth rates were observed for plants grown under colder temperatures, consistent with plant adaptation to the lower existing herbivore pressure in cold, high-elevation environments. Regression analyses suggested that polar metabolite variation explained more variance in larval performance than changes in defensive glucosinolates or morphological traits.</li> <li>Our results suggest that although physiological responses to warming may increase the resistance of cold-adapted plants to herbivory, populations from different elevations may differ in their interactions with herbivores under climate warming. Without genetic adaptation, existing physiological responses of high-elevation populations to warmer temperatures may leave these populations vulnerable to the increases in herbivore pressure predicted under climate change.</li> </ol>

Variation and association of leaf traits for desert plants in the arid area, northwest China

Characterizing variation and association of plant traits is critical for understanding plant adaptation strategies and community assembly mechanisms. However, little is known about the leaf trait variations of desert plants and their association with different life forms. We used principal component analysis, Pearson's correlation, phylogenetic independent contrasts, linear mixed model, and variance decomposition to explore the variation and association of 10 leaf traits in 22 desert plants in the arid area of northwest China. We found that: (1) the contribution of interspecific variation to the overall variation was greater than the intraspecific variation of all the studied leaf traits; (2) intraspecific and interspecific variation in leaf traits differed among life forms. Some leaf traits, such as tissue density of shrubs and specific leaf area of herbs, exhibited greater intraspecific than interspecific variation, while other traits exhibited the inverse; (3) desert shrubs corroborate the leaf economic spectrum hypothesis and had a fast acquisitive resource strategy, but herbs may not conform to this hypothesis; (4) there were trade‐offs between leaf traits, which were mediated by phylogeny. Overall, our results suggest that interspecific variation of leaf traits significantly contributes to the total leaf traits variation in desert plants. However, intraspecific variation should not be overlooked. There are contrasts in the resource acquisition strategies between plants life forms. Our results support understanding of the mechanisms underlying community assembly in arid regions and suggest that future works may focus on the variation and association of plant traits at both intra‐ and interspecific scales.

Linking trait network parameters with plant growth across light gradients and seasons

1. Reduced light availability induced by eutrophication has dramatically affected the growth of submerged macrophytes and caused their rapid decline globally in lakes. Functional traits have usually been used to predict ecological processes and explain plant adaptation. Trait networks, which are constructed from a series of nodes (traits) and edges (trait-trait correlations), can reveal complex relationships among traits. Plant traits belonging to different organs are considered relevant for overall plant performance. Therefore, variation in trait network topology at the whole-plant level can better reflect plant adaptation and response to environments than traditional methods, but the mechanisms underlying the decline of plants from a trait network perspective are not well understood. 2. In this study, based on a one-year manipulation experiment for Potamogeton maackianus cultured with four levels of light intensity, we constructed trait networks from 20 traits belonging to different organs. 3. Our results showed that trait network connectivity decreases in harsh environments, probably due to increased trait modules responding independently to stress. Network connectivity was positively related to the plant relative growth rate (RGR), as high trait connectivity and coordination should be beneficial for plants to acquire and transport resources efficiently across the whole plant. Additionally, we found that specific stem length, leaf:root mass ratios, and leaf total nonstructural carbohydrates were hub traits with high connectivity. These hub traits expressed high phenotypic plasticity, had close links with plant growth, and consistently held their higher importance within the network across light gradients or seasons. 4. We found that low phenotypic integration in stressful environments may constrain plant growth, which can provide important implications for understanding plant adaptation strategies to low-light stress and even predicting community dynamics in the context of global environmental change.

Estimating global GPP from the plant functional type perspective using a machine learning approach

The long-term monitoring of gross primary production (GPP) is crucial to the assessment of the carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, a well-known machine learning model (Random Forest, RF) is established to reconstruct the global GPP dataset named ECGC_GPP. The model distinguished nine functional plant types, including C3 and C4 crops, using eddy fluxes, meteorological variables, and leaf area index as training data of the RF model. Based on ERA5_Land and the corrected GEOV2 data, the global monthly GPP dataset at a 0.05-degree resolution from 1999 to 2019 was estimated. The results showed that the RF model could explain 74.81% of the monthly variation of GPP in the testing dataset, of which the average contribution of Leaf Area Index (LAI) reached 41.73%. The average annual and standard deviation of GPP during 1999–2019 were 117.14 ± 1.51 Pg C yr-1, with an upward trend of 0.21 Pg C yr-2 (p < 0.01). By using the plant functional type classification, the underestimation of cropland is improved. Therefore, ECGC_GPP provides reasonable global spatial patterns and long-term trends of annual GPP.

Does pre-sorting by colour using visible and high-energy violet light improve the detection of plant species in honey bee pollen baskets?

<div class="article-section__content en main"> Premise Pollen collected by honey bees from different plant species often differs in color, and this has been used as a basis for plant identification. The objective of this study was to develop a new, low-cost protocol to sort pollen pellets by color using high-energy violet light and visible light to determine whether pollen pellet color is associated with variations in plant species identity. Methods and Results We identified 35 distinct colors and found that 52% of pollen subsamples (n = 200) were dominated by a single taxon. Among these near-pure pellets, only one color consistently represented a single pollen taxon (Asteraceae: Cichorioideae). Across the spectrum of colors spanning yellows, oranges, and browns, similarly colored pollen pellets contained pollen from multiple plant families ranging from two to 13 families per color. Conclusions Sorting pollen pellets illuminated under high-energy violet light lit from four directions within a custom-made light box aided in distinguishing pellet composition, especially in pellets within the same color. </div>