Legitimate visitors and nectar robbers on Trifolium pratense showed contrasting flower fidelity versus co-flowering plant species: could motor learning be a major determinant of flower constancy by bumble bees?

Pollinators often forage sequentially among the flowers of the same plant species while bypassing flowers of other rewarding species. Darwin proposed that it is more efficient for pollinators to remain constant to one plant species because switching to a second species interferes with their ability to recall a previously learned flower-handling technique. This interference hypothesis was tested using Bombus impatiens workers. Bees that had learned to handle one type of flower (species A) were retested on species A after they had learned to handle a second type of flower (species B). Interference effects were detected by comparing flower access times (time to insert the tongue into the flower) during the retesting period with initial access times on species A. Bees retested on both simple (red clover, Trifolium pratense) and complex (toadflax, Linaria vulgaris) flowers showed no evidence of interference after learning simple-flowered plant species (blueweed, Echium vulgare; purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria). However, bees relearning the complex flowers of toadflax showed a 2.2-s (81%) increase over their initial access time after switching to a second complex-flowered species (orange touch-me-not, Impatiens capensis). These results suggest that the interference effects incurred by bees switching between toadflax and orange touch-me-not under biologically realistic conditions are relatively small, and are unlikely to account for flower constancy in bumble bees.

Download Full-text

Costs to foraging bumble bees of switching plant species

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z94-007 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 72 (1) ◽

pp. 43-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Terence M. Laverty

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Trifolium Pratense ◽

Bumble Bees ◽

Prunella Vulgaris ◽

Flower Constancy ◽

Flower Visit ◽

Aconitum Napellus ◽

Handling Methods ◽

Vicia Cracca ◽

Flower Handling

Many pollinators tend to move between flowers of the same species of plant even when flowers of other species are available. Reasons for this behaviour (known as flower constancy) are unclear. One possible explanation (proposed by Darwin) is that flower handling methods learned on one plant species interfere with previously learned handling methods of other plant species. Darwin's hypothesis was tested by measuring the constancy of bumble bees (Bombus fervidus) foraging in the field and looking for evidence of interference (increased handling times and flower handling errors) when bees switched among four species with relatively simple flowers (Prunella vulgaris, Trifolium pratense, T. hybridum, and Vicia cracca) and two species with more complex flowers (Aconitum napellus and Impatiens capensis). Bees foraging on simple flowers showed no tendency towards flower constancy, and switching between species did not increase handling times or handling errors. Foragers displayed strong constancy when visiting the species with more complex flowers and there was also some evidence of increased handling times and error frequencies following switches. However, the time costs of switching were small (about 1 s over the first flower visit after a switch) and are unlikely to account for flower constancy by bumble bees foraging under natural conditions.

Download Full-text

Epimutations are associated with CHROMOMETHYLASE 3-induced de novo DNA methylation

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.47891 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Jered M Wendte ◽

Yinwen Zhang ◽

Lexiang Ji ◽

Xiuling Shi ◽

Rashmi R Hazarika ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dna Methylation ◽

Plant Species ◽

Dna Methyltransferase ◽

Constitutive Heterochromatin ◽

De Novo ◽

Flowering Plant ◽

Gene Body ◽

Gene Body Methylation ◽

Mechanistic Basis ◽

Flowering Plant Species

In many plant species, a subset of transcribed genes are characterized by strictly CG-context DNA methylation, referred to as gene body methylation (gbM). The mechanisms that establish gbM are unclear, yet flowering plant species naturally without gbM lack the DNA methyltransferase, CMT3, which maintains CHG (H = A, C, or T) and not CG methylation at constitutive heterochromatin. Here, we identify the mechanistic basis for gbM establishment by expressing CMT3 in a species naturally lacking CMT3. CMT3 expression reconstituted gbM through a progression of de novo CHG methylation on expressed genes, followed by the accumulation of CG methylation that could be inherited even following loss of the CMT3 transgene. Thus, gbM likely originates from the simultaneous targeting of loci by pathways that promote euchromatin and heterochromatin, which primes genes for the formation of stably inherited epimutations in the form of CG DNA methylation.

Download Full-text

Toevoegings tot die blomplantlys van die Bergkwagga Nasionale Park

Koedoe ◽

10.4102/koedoe.v20i1.956 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

B.L. Penzhorn

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

National Park ◽

Flowering Plants ◽

Flowering Plant ◽

Check List ◽

Flowering Plant Species

Additions to the check list of flowering plants of the Mountain Zebra National Park. Thirteen additional flowering plant species are reported from the Mountain Zebra National Park, increasing the total reported to 371 species.

Download Full-text

Pollinator‐mediated interactions between cultivated papaya and co‐flowering plant species

Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.1002/ece3.4781 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 587-597

Author(s):

Raúl Badillo‐Montaño ◽

Armando Aguirre ◽

Miguel A. Munguía‐Rosas

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Flowering Plant ◽

Flowering Plant Species

Download Full-text

Flower Constancy in the Generalist PollinatorCeratina flavipes(Hymenoptera: Apidae): An Evaluation by Pollen Analysis

Psyche A Journal of Entomology ◽

10.1155/2010/891906 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 2010 ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Midori Kobayashi-Kidokoro ◽

Seigo Higashi

Keyword(s):

Food Habits ◽

Significant Interaction ◽

Pollen Grains ◽

Flowering Plant ◽

Solitary Bee ◽

Flower Constancy ◽

Pollen Loads ◽

Pollen Sources ◽

Flowering Plant Species ◽

Seasonal Pollen

The food habits of the solitary beeCeratina flavipeswere studied by observation on foraging behavior and identifying the pollen grains that they collected. It appeared thatC. flavipestend to collect pollen from particular species; however, they visit multiple flowering species. We analyzed pollen sources from pollen loads of dried specimens from single foraging trips (SFT) and in pollen balls created from a single foraging day (SD). The pollen from all pollen balls in a nest represented the harvest from an entire breeding season (BP). This analysis showed that each bee on average collected pollen from 3.24 (SFTs), 2.02 (SD), and 3.12 (BP) flowering species. Bees collected pollen from a total of 14 flowering plant species. Furthermore, we calculated when pollen balls were created and found no significant interaction between seasonal pollen availability and bee preferences. Moreover, bees had consistent flower preferences, even if the preferred flower was not dominant at all times. These results indicate thatC. flavipesexhibits flower constancy, and therefore, the generalist pollinatorC. flavipescould function like a specialist pollinator.

Download Full-text

Floral preferences of a neotropical stingless bee, Melipona quadrifasciata Lepeletier (Apidae: Meliponina) in an urban forest fragment

Brazilian Journal of Biology ◽

10.1590/s1519-69842006000300012 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 66 (2a) ◽

pp. 463-471 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Y. Antonini ◽

R. G. Costa ◽

R. P. Martins

Keyword(s):

Plant Species ◽

Urban Forest ◽

Flowering Plant ◽

Forest Fragment ◽

High Similarity ◽

Paulo State ◽

Melipona Quadrifasciata ◽

Belo Horizonte ◽

Flowering Plant Species ◽

Bee Abundance

Species of plants used by Melipona quadrifasciata Lepeletier for pollen and nectar gathering in an urban forest fragment were recorded in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Melipona quadrifasciata visited 22 out of 103 flowering plant species. The plant species belonged mainly to Myrtaceae, Asteraceae, and Convolvulaceae (64% of the visits). Melipona quadrifasciata tended to collect pollen or nectar each time, except for Myrtaceae species, from which both pollen and nectar were collected. Bee abundance at flowers did not significantly correlate to food availability (expressed by flowering plant richness). We found a relatively high similarity (50%) between plant species used by M. quadrifasciata, which was also found in studies carried out in São Paulo State. However, low similarity (17%) was found between the results of this study and those of another done in Bahia State, Brazil.

Download Full-text