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222 results for “Nectar”
Nectar values from: Quantifying nectar production by flowering plants in urban and rural landscapes
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High rates of nectar depletion in summer grasslands indicate competitive conditions for pollinators
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Nectar peroxide: Assessing variation among plant species, microbial tolerance and effects on microbial community assembly
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Data from: Modularity and selection of nectar traits in the evolution of the selfing syndrome in Ipomoea lacunosa (Convolvulaceae)
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Native Bee and Nectar-Producing Plant Community Data from Iowa and Missouri (2017-2018)
The majority of tallgrass prairie in the American Midwest has been lost, largely due to extensive conversion to agriculture, with negative impacts on prairie-dependent taxa. Pastureland managed with both periodic fire and grazing (“pyric herbivory”) to mirror historic disturbance shows promise as a tool to restore grassland species’ diversity. The benefits of pyric herbivory management to the abundance and diversity of grassland insect pollinators has been demonstrated at "site" level but finer spatial scale benefits remain unclear. These data focus on native bee communities and nectar-producing flower abundance within sites either managed with graze and burn (same fire schedule as burn only but with cattle grazing) or patch-burn graze (grazing by cattle with a burn on one third of the site every year). The graze and burn sites were further managed against an invasive grass (tall fescue; Schedonorus arundinaceus) where one third of the site was left as a control, two thirds were sprayed with the herbicide glyphosate in 2014 and one of those two thirds was also seeded with native prairie plants the following spring. Native bees and flowers were sampled from May to August 2017 and 2018 on six sites in southern Iowa (Ringgold Co.) and norther Missouri (Harrison Co.).
Data from: Scented nectar and the challenge of measuring honest signals in pollination
<p>1. Nectar scents are thought to function as honest signals of reward used by pollinators, but this hypothesis has rarely been tested. 2. Using <i>Penstemon digitalis</i>, we examined honest signalling of the nectar volatile (S)-(+)-linalool and pollinator responses to linalool in both field and laboratory settings. Because our previous work showed that linalool emission was associated with higher female fitness and that nectar is scented with linalool, we hypothesized that linalool was an honest signal of nectar reward. To assess honesty, we measured linalool-nectar associations including nectar volume, sugar amount, concentration, and production rate for inflorescences and flowers in several populations. We also assessed whether Bombus impatiens, the main pollinator of P. digitalis at our sites, can use linalool as a foraging signal. We supplemented real or artificial flowers in the field and lab with varying linalool-nectar combinations to measure pollinator behavioural responses. 3. We found that an inflorescence's linalool emissions could be used to predict nectar rewards in P. digitalis, but this was driven by indirect associations with display size rather than directly advertising more profitable flowers. For flowers within inflorescences there was also no evidence for an association between signal and reward. Field tests of bumblebee behaviour were inconclusive. However, in laboratory assays bumblebees generally used variation in linalool emissions to choose more profitable flowers, demonstrating they can detect differences in linalool emitted by P. digitalis and associate them with reward profitability. These results suggest experiments that decouple display size, scent and reward are necessary to assess whether (and when) bees prefer higher linalool emissions. Bees preferred nectars with lower linalool concentrations when linalool flavoured the nectar solution, suggesting potential for conflicting pressures on scent emission in the field. 4. Synthesis: Our results highlight the challenges of assessing function for traits important to fitness and suggest that the perception of floral signalling honesty may depend on whether pollinators use inflorescences or flowers within inflorescences when making foraging decisions. We conclude that future research on honest signalling in flowering plants, as well as its connection to phenotypic selection, should explicitly consider among- and within-inflorescence honesty, in theoretical and experimental contexts.</p>
Characterizing the nectar microbiome of the non-native tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in an urban environment
<p>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 <i>Ascelpias curassavica</i>, a non-native tropical milkweed commonly, in an urban environment. We found that the majority of the floral visitors to <i>A. curassavica</i> 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.<br> </p>
Bumblebee colony density on farmland is influenced by late-summer nectar supply and garden cover
<p>1. Floral resources are important in limiting pollinator populations, but they are often highly variable across time and space and the effect of this variation on pollinator population dynamics is not well understood. The phenology (timing) of floral resources is thought to be important in structuring pollinator populations, but few studies have directly investigated this. 2. Our study quantifies the landscape composition, seasonal nectar and pollen supply, and <i>Bombus terrestris</i> colony density of 12 farms in southwest UK to investigate how landscape composition influences the phenology of floral resources and how both these factors affect colony density. We use this information in a spatially explicit predictive model to estimate the effect of different farmland management scenarios on seasonal resource supplies and colony density. 3. We find that farmland nectar supply during September is a strong predictor of <i>B. terrestris</i> colony density in the following year, explaining over half of all the variation in colony density; no other period of resource availability showed a significant association. Semi-natural habitat cover was not a good proxy for nectar or pollen supply and showed no significant association with colony density. However, the proportional cover of gardens in the landscape was significantly associated with colony density. 4. The predictive model results suggest that increasing the area of semi-natural flowering habitat has limited effect on bumblebee populations. However, improving the quality of these habitats through Environmental Stewardship and other management options is predicted to reduce the late-summer resource bottleneck and increase colony density. 5. Synthesis and Applications: Our results demonstrate the importance of considering the phenology of resources, rather than just total resource availability, when designing measures to support pollinators. Late-summer appears to be a resource bottleneck for bumblebees in UK farmland, and consequently management strategies which increase late-summer nectar availability may be the most effective. These include mowing regimes to delay flowering of field margins until September, planting late-flowering cover crops such as red clover, and supporting late-flowering wild plant species such as <i>Hedera helix</i>. Our results also suggest that rural gardens may play an important role in supporting farmland bumblebee populations.</p>
Nectar robbers deter legitimate pollinators by mutilating flowers
<p>Nectar robbing – harvesting nectar illegitimately – can have a variety of outcomes for plant sexual reproduction and for the pollinator community. Nectar robbers can damage flowers while robbing nectar, which could affect the behavior of subsequent flower visitors and, consequently, plant reproduction. However, only nectar manipulation by nectar robbers has so far received attention. We found a short-tongued bee, Hoplonomia sp. (Halictidae), mutilating the conspicuous lower petal of the zygomorphic flowers of Leucas aspera (Lamiaceae) while robbing nectar. We hypothesized that the mutilation of the conspicuous lower petal deters legitimate pollinators on L. aspera flowers, which, in turn, might affect plant reproduction. We first assessed the proportion of naturally-robbed flowers in plant populations for three years to confirm that it was not a purely local phenomenon due to a few individual bees. We then studied diversity, community and visitation characteristics of pollinators, nectar dynamics, and fruit set in unrobbed and robbed open flowers in naturally-robbed populations. The proportion of robbed flowers varied significantly across sites and years. Robbing did not affect nectar dynamics in flowers, but it did alter flower morphology, so much so that it reduced pollinator visitation and altered the pollinator community on robbed flowers. However, the maternal function of plant reproduction was not affected by nectar robbing. This study for the first time shows that a nectar robber can have an ecologically significant impact on floral morphology.</p>
Data from: Genetic basis of priority effects: insights from nectar yeast
Priority effects, in which the order of species arrival dictates community assembly, can have a major influence on species diversity, but the genetic basis of priority effects remains unknown. Here, we suggest that nitrogen scavenging genes previously considered responsible for starvation avoidance may drive priority effects by causing rapid resource depletion. Using single-molecule sequencing, we de novo assembled the genome of the nectar-colonizing yeast, Metschnikowia reukaufii, across eight scaffolds and complete mitochondrion, with gap-free coverage over gene spaces. We found a high rate of tandem gene duplication in this genome, enriched for nitrogen metabolism and transport. Both high-capacity amino acid importers, GAP1 and PUT4, present as tandem gene arrays, were highly expressed in synthetic nectar and regulated by the availability and quality of amino acids. In experiments with competitive nectar yeast, Candida rancensis, amino acid addition alleviated suppression of C. rancensis by early arrival of M. reukaufii, corroborating that amino acid scavenging may contribute to priority effects. Because niche pre-emption via rapid resource depletion may underlie priority effects in a broad range of microbial, plant and animal communities, nutrient scavenging genes like the ones we considered here may be broadly relevant to understanding priority effects.
Data from: Genomic diversity of a nectar yeast clusters into metabolically, but not geographically, distinct lineages
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. Furthermore, 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.
Data from: Priority effects can persist across floral generations in nectar microbial metacommunities
The order of species arrival can influence how species interact with one another and, consequently, which species may coexist in local communities. This phenomenon, called priority effects, has been observed in various types of communities, but it remains unclear whether priority effects persist over the long term spanning multiple generations of local communities in metacommunities. Focusing on bacteria and yeasts that colonize floral nectar of the sticky monkey flower, Mimulus aurantiacus, via hummingbirds and other flower-visiting animals, we experimentally manipulated initial microbial dominance on plants (regarded as metacommunities) to examine whether its effects persisted across multiple generations of flowers (regarded as local microbial habitats). The experimental introduction of Neokomagataea (= Gluconobacter) bacteria and Metschnikowia yeasts into wild flowers showed that the effects of initial dominance were observable across multiple floral generations. Three weeks after introduction, corresponding approximately to three floral generations, Neokomagataea introduction led to exclusion of yeasts, whereas Metschnikowia introduction did not result in the exclusion of Neokomagataea. Our results suggest that, even when local habitats are ephemeral, priority effects may influence multiple generations of local communities within metacommunities.
Data from: Dispersal enhances beta diversity in nectar microbes
Dispersal is considered a key driver of beta diversity, the variation in species composition among local communities, but empirical tests remain limited. We manipulated dispersal of nectar-inhabiting bacteria and yeasts via flower-visiting animals to examine how dispersal influenced microbial beta diversity among flowers. Contrary to the prevailing view that dispersal lowers beta diversity, we found beta diversity was highest when dispersal was least limited. Our analysis suggested that this unexpected pattern might have resulted from stronger priority effects under increased dispersal. Dispersal is highly stochastic, generating variability in species arrival history and consequently the potential for community divergence via priority effects, in these and likely many other microbial, plant, and animal communities. Yet most previous experiments eliminated this possibility. We suggest that the positive effects of dispersal on beta diversity, like the one we report here, may have been greatly underappreciated.
Figure 1. - Nesting habitat of Xylocopanasalis; A nesting habitat of Xylocopanasalis on a makeshift roof of a restaurant in Suan Pheung district, Ratch Buri province, Thailand. The red arrows indicate locations where the bamboo culms were arranged ca. 2.50 m above the ground (1a and 1b). At the nest entrance, the female of Xylocopanasalis was dehydrating the nectar previously foraged (1c).
Figure 1. - Nesting habitat of Xylocopanasalis; A nesting habitat of Xylocopanasalis on a makeshift roof of a restaurant in Suan Pheung district, Ratch Buri province, Thailand. The red arrows indicate locations where the bamboo culms were arranged ca. 2.50 m above the ground (1a and 1b). At the nest entrance, the female of Xylocopanasalis was dehydrating the nectar previously foraged (1c).
Flying, nectar-loaded honey bees conserve water and improve heat tolerance by reducing wingbeat frequency and metabolic heat production
<p><span>Heat waves are becoming increasingly common due to climate change, making it crucial to identify and understand the capacities for insect pollinators, such as honey bees, to avoid overheating. We examined the effects of hot, dry air temperatures on the physiological and behavioral mechanisms that honey bees use to fly when carrying nectar loads, to assess how foraging is limited by overheating or desiccation. We found that flight muscle temperatures increased linearly with load mass at air temperatures of 20</span><span> or 30°C, but, remarkably, there was no change with increasing nectar loads at an air temperature of 40°C. Flying, nectar-loaded bees were able to avoid overheating at 40°C by reducing their flight metabolic rates and increasing evaporative cooling. At high body temperatures, bees apparently increase flight efficiency by lowering their wingbeat frequency and increasing stroke amplitude to compensate, reducing the need for evaporative cooling. However, even with reductions in metabolic heat production, desiccation likely limits foraging at temperatures well below bees' critical thermal maxima in hot, dry conditions.</span></p>
Testing nectar price effect on bumblebee feeding by automatized computer-controlled laboratory platform
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Nectar values from: Turnover in floral composition explains species diversity and temporal stability in the nectar supply of urban residential gardens
<p>Residential gardens are a valuable habitat for insect pollinators worldwide, but differences in individual gardening practices substantially affect their floral composition. It is important to understand how the floral resource supply of gardens varies in both space and time so we can develop evidence-based management recommendations to support pollinator conservation in towns and cities.</p> <p>We surveyed 59 residential gardens in the city of Bristol, UK, at monthly intervals from March to October. For each of 472 garden surveys, we combined floral abundances with nectar sugar data to quantify the nectar production of each garden, investigating the magnitude, temporal stability, and diversity and composition of garden nectar supplies.</p> <p>We found that individual gardens differ markedly in the quantity of nectar sugar they supply (from 2 g to 1662 g), and nectar production is higher in more affluent neighbourhoods, but not in larger gardens. Nectar supply peaks in July (mid-summer), when more plant taxa are in flower, but temporal patterns vary among individual gardens. At larger spatial scales, temporal variability averages out through the portfolio effect, meaning insect pollinators foraging across many gardens in urban landscapes have access to a relatively stable and continuous supply of nectar through the year.</p> <p>Turnover in species composition among gardens leads to an extremely high overall plant richness, with 636 taxa recorded flowering. The nectar supply is dominated by non-natives, which provide 91% of all nectar sugar, while shrubs are the main plant life form contributing to nectar production (58%). Two thirds of nectar sugar is only available to relatively specialised pollinators, leaving just one third that is accessible to all.</p> <p><i>Synthesis and applications</i>. By measuring nectar supply in residential gardens, our study demonstrates that pollinator-friendly management, affecting garden quality, is more important than the size of a garden, giving every gardener an opportunity to contribute to pollinator conservation in urban areas. For gardeners interested in increasing the value of their land to foraging pollinators we recommend planting nectar-rich shrubs with complementary flowering periods and prioritising flowers with an open structure in late summer and autumn.</p>
Data from: Turnover in floral composition explains species diversity and temporal stability in the nectar supply of urban residential gardens
<p>Residential gardens are a valuable habitat for insect pollinators worldwide, but differences in individual gardening practices substantially affect their floral composition. It is important to understand how the floral resource supply of gardens varies in both space and time so we can develop evidence-based management recommendations to support pollinator conservation in towns and cities.</p> <p>We surveyed 59 residential gardens in the city of Bristol, UK, at monthly intervals from March to October. For each of 472 garden surveys, we combined floral abundances with nectar sugar data to quantify the nectar production of each garden, investigating the magnitude, temporal stability, and diversity and composition of garden nectar supplies.</p> <p>We found that individual gardens differ markedly in the quantity of nectar sugar they supply (from 2 g to 1662 g), and nectar production is higher in more affluent neighbourhoods, but not in larger gardens. Nectar supply peaks in July (mid-summer), when more plant taxa are in flower, but temporal patterns vary among individual gardens. At larger spatial scales, temporal variability averages out through the portfolio effect, meaning insect pollinators foraging across many gardens in urban landscapes have access to a relatively stable and continuous supply of nectar through the year.</p> <p>Turnover in species composition among gardens leads to an extremely high overall plant richness, with 636 taxa recorded flowering. The nectar supply is dominated by non-natives, which provide 91% of all nectar sugar, while shrubs are the main plant life form contributing to nectar production (58%). Two thirds of nectar sugar is only available to relatively specialised pollinators, leaving just one third that is accessible to all.</p> <p><i>Synthesis and applications</i>. By measuring nectar supply in residential gardens, our study demonstrates that pollinator-friendly management, affecting garden quality, is more important than the size of a garden, giving every gardener an opportunity to contribute to pollinator conservation in urban areas. For gardeners interested in increasing the value of their land to foraging pollinators we recommend planting nectar-rich shrubs with complementary flowering periods and prioritising flowers with an open structure in late summer and autumn.</p>
Single-cell transcriptome analysis of the in vivo response to viral infection in the cave nectar bat Eonycteris spelaea
<p>Bats are reservoir hosts of many zoonotic viruses with pandemic potential in humans. Here, we<br> utilized single-cell transcriptome sequencing (scRNA-seq) to provide detailed comparative<br> analyses of the immune repertoire and the transcriptional responses in the bat lungs upon in<br> vivo infection with a double-stranded RNA virus, Pteropine orthoreovirus PRV3M. Neutrophils<br> were observed to have basally high IDO1 expression, uniquely amongst mammals currently<br> profiled by scRNA-seq. NK/T cells were the most abundant immune cell type in lung tissue, and<br> included three distinct CD8 + effector T cell populations delineated by the differential expression<br> of KLRB1, GFRA2 and DPP4. We identified NK/T clusters which up-regulated genes involved in<br> T-cell activation and effector function early after viral infection. Alveolar macrophages and<br> classical monocytes were key drivers of antiviral interferon signaling. Infection also resulted in<br> the expansion of a CSF1R + population expressing collagen-like genes, which became the<br> predominant myeloid cell type after infection. This work uncovers novel features relevant to viral<br> disease tolerance in bats, lays a foundation for future in vivo and in vitro experimental<br> investigations, and serves as a key resource for comparative immunology studies across bats<br> and other mammals.</p> <p> </p> <p>This upload is the transcriptome fasta file used for alignment for the dataset.</p>
Data from: Can conflicting selection from pollinators and nectar-robbing antagonists drive adaptive pollen limitation? A conceptual model and empirical test
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Pollen limitation is widespread, despite predictions that it shouldn't be. We propose a novel mechanism generating pollen limitation: conflicting selection by pollinators and antagonists on pollinator attraction traits. We introduce a heuristic model demonstrating antagonist-induced adaptive pollen limitation, and present a field study illustrating its occurrence in a wild population. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>For antagonist-induced adaptive pollen limitation to occur, four criteria must be met: 1) correlated attraction of pollinators and antagonists, 2) greater response by antagonists than pollinators to altered investment in attraction traits, 3) reduced investment in pollinator attraction leading to pollen limitation, and 4) higher fitness for plants with reduced investment in pollinator attraction.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>We surveyed nectar robbery and reproductive output for 109 <i>Odontonema cuspidatum </i>(Acanthaceae) plants in a pollen-limited population<i> </i>over two years and used experimental floral arrays to evaluate how flower number affects pollination and nectar robbery. Both pollinators and nectar robbers preferred larger floral displays, and nectar robbery reduced reproductive output, suggesting conflicting selection. Survey and experimental data agreed closely on the optimum flower number under antagonist-induced pollen limitation; this number was substantially overrepresented in the population. While criteria for antagonist-induced adaptive pollen limitation are restrictive, the necessary conditions may often be realized. Considering interactions beyond the plant-pollinator dyad illuminates previously overlooked mechanisms generating pollen limitation. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
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