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ViewAttendees 1

10-Minute Paper

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

P-IE: Apiculture and Pollinators 1

Leveraging genetic diversity of Capsella recombinant plant lines to understand how floral traits influence species-specific foraging patterns in bee pollinators

Tuesday, November 7, 2023
9:36 AM – 9:48 AM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Potomac 3-4
In-Person
Plant-pollinator interactions represent a core mutualism that supports terrestrial ecosystems and are vital for human agricultural production and food security. Because floral traits have co-evolved, it is challenging in natural ecosystems to identify the key traits responsible for driving pollinator attraction. By crossing a self-fertilizing Capsella rubella (Cr) and an outcrossing, pollinator dependent species C. grandiflora (Cg), we created recombinant inbred lines (RILs) that vary across floral traits. Here, we developed highly controlled experimental systems to evaluate the mechanisms underlying foraging preferences of bees Apis mellifera, Osmia cornifrons and Megachile rotundata, to two parental and 16 CapsellaRILs. In closed-space arenas and outdoor flight cages, we recorded continuous foraging behavior of experimental bee community and individual bees, while simultaneously standardizing for the differences in floral display of each plant. Cumulative visitation rates of bees for all three species significantly differed among Capsella plant lines (with Cg being the most visited). These behavioral patterns are being evaluated against floral traits and/or nutritional rewards. Our results provide an unprecedented mechanistic understanding of how specialist and generalist pollination systems function and evolve by linking distinct aspects of pollinator foraging behavior with floral traits. These results help designing pollinator-friendly habitats and pollinator-attractive crops.