Journal articles: 'Floral resources'

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Melin, Annalie, Mathieu Rouget, Jonathan F. Colville, Jeremy J. Midgley, and John S. Donaldson. "Assessing the role of dispersed floral resources for managed bees in providing supporting ecosystem services for crop pollination." PeerJ 6 (September 27, 2018): e5654. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5654.

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Most pollination ecosystem services studies have focussed on wild pollinators and their dependence on natural floral resources adjacent to crop fields. However, managed pollinators depend on a mixture of floral resources that are spatially separated from the crop field. Here, we consider the supporting role these resources play as an ecosystem services provider to quantify the use and availability of floral resources, and to estimate their relative contribution to support pollination services of managed honeybees. Beekeepers supplying pollination services to the Western Cape deciduous fruit industry were interviewed to obtain information on their use of floral resources. For 120 apiary sites, we also analysed floral resources within a two km radius of each site based on geographic data. The relative availability of floral resources at sites was compared to regional availability. The relative contribution of floral resources-types to sustain managed honeybees was estimated. Beekeepers showed a strong preference for eucalypts and canola. Beekeepers selectively placed more hives at sites with eucalypt and canola and less with natural vegetation. However, at the landscape-scale, eucalypt was the least available resource, whereas natural vegetation was most common. Based on analysis of apiary sites, we estimated that 700,818 ha of natural vegetation, 73,910 ha of canola fields, and 10,485 ha of eucalypt are used to support the managed honeybee industry in the Western Cape. Whereas the Cape managed honeybee system uses a bee native to the region, alien plant species appear disproportionately important among the floral resources being exploited. We suggest that an integrated approach, including evidence from interview and landscape data, and fine-scale biological data is needed to study floral resources supporting managed honeybees.

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Phillips, Benjamin B., Rosalind F. Shaw, Matthew J. Holland, Ellen L. Fry, Richard D. Bardgett, James M. Bullock, and Juliet L. Osborne. "Drought reduces floral resources for pollinators." Global Change Biology 24, no. 7 (April 13, 2018): 3226–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14130.

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Junker, Robert R., and Nico Blüthgen. "Dependency on floral resources determines the animals’ responses to floral scents." Plant Signaling & Behavior 5, no. 8 (August 2010): 1014–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/psb.5.8.12289.

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Foucher, Fabrice, Michel Chevalier, Christophe Corre, Vanessa Soufflet-Freslon, Fabrice Legeai, and Laurence Hibrand-Saint Oyant. "New resources for studying the rose flowering process." Genome 51, no. 10 (October 2008): 827–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/g08-067.

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Knowledge of the flowering process — an important trait in ornamental plants such as roses — is necessary for efficient control of flowering. This study was carried out to develop and characterize new resources to gain further insight into floral control in rose. We studied floral initiation in a nonrecurrent blooming rose (hybrid of Rosa wichurana ) and a recurrent blooming rose ( Rosa hybrida Black Baccara®). In Black Baccara®, floral initiation took place rapidly after bud burst, whereas in the greenhouse R. wichurana remained vegetative. During floral initiation, the apex enlarged and domed quickly and concomitantly. This is the first description of this transition between the vegetative and floral bud stages in rose. From these vegetative and pre-floral tissues, two cDNA libraries were constructed and 5000 ESTs sequenced. By collecting our ESTs and those available in public databases, we developed a comprehensive database representing ~5000 unique sequences after clustering. By screening this database for candidate genes involved in the flowering process, we identified 13 genes potentially involved in gibberellic acid signalling, photoperiod pathways, and floral development. Based on expression data, we put forward different hypotheses on the control of flowering in rose (photoperiod control and involvement of gibberellins) relative to what is already known in Arabidopsis .

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Fairhurst, Stacey M., Lorna J. Cole, Tereza Kocarkova, Catherine Jones-Morris, Andy Evans, and Gail Jackson. "Agronomic Traits in Oilseed Rape (Brassica napus) Can Predict Foraging Resources for Insect Pollinators." Agronomy 11, no. 3 (February 27, 2021): 440. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11030440.

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Mass-flowering crops, such as oilseed rape (OSR; Brassica napus), provide pulses of nectar and pollen, helping to support pollinators and their pollination services in agricultural landscapes. Despite their value to declining pollinators, varietal in-field OSR testing focusses on agronomic traits, with floral resources being largely overlooked. OSR has a high varietal turnover, and consequently, floral resource data collected for a specific variety quickly become redundant. Here, we explore the potential to predict floral resource availability using agronomic trait data routinely collected in varietal trials. To build predictive models, we investigated the relationships between agronomic traits and pollen and nectar availability in 19 OSR varieties. Nectar quality was positively influenced by early vigour, as well as winter hardiness in conventional varieties and stem stiffness in hybrid varieties. Pollen quantity was driven by different traits, with early maturation having a negative impact in conventional varieties and resistance to lodging having a positive impact in hybrid varieties. Our study highlights the potential to predict floral resources using agronomic trait data, enabling the rapid assessment of these key resources in future OSR varieties without costly sampling. Agronomic traits relating to increased nectar quality were also agronomically favourable, indicating benefits to both pollinators and growers. The inclusion of modelled floral resource data in recommended varietal lists would enable growers to make informed decisions about varietal selection based on local pollinator populations.

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Quirino, ZGM, and IC Machado. "Pollination syndromes in a Caatinga plant community in northeastern Brazil: seasonal availability of floral resources in different plant growth habits." Brazilian Journal of Biology 74, no. 1 (February 2014): 62–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.17212.

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To describe plant phenological patterns and correlate functioning for the quantity and quality of resources available for the pollinator, it is crucial to understand the temporal dynamics of biological communities. In this way, the pollination syndromes of 46 species with different growth habits (trees, shrubs, herbs, and vines) were examined in an area of Caatinga vegetation, northeastern Brazil (7° 28′ 45″ S and 36° 54′ 18″ W), during two years. Flowering was monitored monthly in all the species, over two years (from January 2003 to December 2004). Pollination syndromes were characterised based on floral traits such as size, colour, morphology, symmetry, floral resources, as well as on direct visual observation of floral visitors on focal plants and published information. We observed differences among the plant growth habits with respect to floral traits, types of resources offered, and floral syndromes. The flowering periods of the species varied among floral syndrome groups. The majority of the melittophilous species flowered during the rainy season in the two study years, while the species of the other pollination syndroms flowered at the end of the dry season. An asynchrony of flowering was noted among the chiropterophilous species, while the phalenophilous group concentrated during the rainy season. The overall availability of floral resources was different during the rainy and the dry seasons, and also it varied among plants with different growth habits. The availability of oil-flowers coincided with the period of low nectar availability. We observed a relationship between the temporal distribution of the pollination syndromes and the availability of floral resources among each growth habits in this tropical ecosystem. Resource allocation in seasonal environments, such as the Caatinga, can function as a strategy for maintaining pollinators, facilitating therefore the reproductive success of plant species. The availability of floral resources during all the year, specially in seasonal environments such as the Caatinga, may function as a strategy to maintain pollinator populations ensuring the reproductive success of the plants.

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Ramalho, M., A. Kleinert-Giovannini, and V. L. Imperatriz-Fonseca. "Utilization of floral resources by species of Melipona (Apidae, Meliponinae): floral preferences." Apidologie 20, no. 3 (1989): 185–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/apido:19890301.

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Real, Leslie, and Beverly J. Rathcke. "Patterns of Individual Variability in Floral Resources." Ecology 69, no. 3 (June 1988): 728–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1941021.

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Andersson, Stefan. "Experimental demonstration of floral allocation costs in Crepis tectorum." Canadian Journal of Botany 84, no. 6 (June 2006): 904–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b06-041.

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Information on floral resource costs is fundamental for understanding how selection operates on floral morphology. In this study, I explored the cost of maturing flowers in a self-incompatible population of the ligulate composite Crepis tectorum L. by experimentally manipulating floral investment and then monitoring the response in reproductive effort. Plants on which the heads were removed during the initial stage of ligule expansion had a higher reproductive effort than plants whose heads were removed immediately after flower maturation, and the latter plants had a higher reproductive effort than plants on which all flowers were permitted to set fruit. Judging from biomass estimates and the magnitude of the observed tradeoffs, the amount of resources allocated to maturing flowers was about half as great as the amount of resources devoted to fruit maturation. These and other results suggest that floral tradeoffs may exert negative selection on floral size variables.

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Rodrigues, LC, and M. Rodrigues. "Floral resources and habitat affect the composition of hummingbirds at the local scale in tropical mountaintops." Brazilian Journal of Biology 75, no. 1 (March 2015): 39–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.06913.

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Hummingbird communities tend to respond to variation in resources, having a positive relationship between abundance and diversity of food resources and the abundance and/or diversity of hummingbirds. Here we examined the influence of floral resource availability, as well as seasonality and type of habitat on the composition of hummingbird species. The study was carried out in two habitats of eastern Brazilian mountaintops. A gradient representative of the structure of hummingbird community, based on species composition, was obtained by the ordination of samples using the method of non-metric multidimensional scaling. The composition of hummingbird species was influenced by the type of habitat and floral resource availability, but not by seasonality. Hummingbird communities differ between habitats mainly due to the relative abundance of hummingbird species. The variation in composition of hummingbird species with the variation in floral resource availability may be related to differences in feeding habits of hummingbirds. Hummingbird species with the longest bills visited higher proportions of ornithophilous species, while hummingbirds with shorter bills visited higher proportions of non-ornithophilous species. The results demonstrate that at local-scale the composition of hummingbird species is affected by the type of habitat and floral resources availability, but not by seasonality.

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Khider, Tarig Osman, and Martin A. Hubbe. "Towards Rational Utilization of Indigenous Plant Resources." BioResources 13, no. 4 (August 1, 2018): 7172–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.15376/biores.13.4.7172-7174.

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The world has huge floral diversity, whereas there often is poor and irrational utilization, especially of indigenous plants and residues from agricultural processes. Trees, shrubs, and herbs can have multiple uses at different levels as medicines and sources of lignocellulosic materials. A fuller and more rational utilization is needed, with interaction of international and national communities, to raise the awareness of local people, governments, and industrial entrepreneurs of the floral wealth that is waiting to be utilized more effectively.

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Plascencia, M., and S. M. Philpott. "Floral abundance, richness, and spatial distribution drive urban garden bee communities." Bulletin of Entomological Research 107, no. 5 (March 1, 2017): 658–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0007485317000153.

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AbstractIn urban landscapes, gardens provide refuges for bee diversity, but conservation potential may depend on local and landscape features. Foraging and population persistence of bee species, as well as overall pollinator community structure, may be supported by the abundance, richness, and spatial distribution of floral resources. Floral resources strongly differ in urban gardens. Using hand netting and pan traps to survey bees, we examined whether abundance, richness, and spatial distribution of floral resources, as well as ground cover and garden landscape surroundings influence bee abundance, species richness, and diversity on the central coast of California. Differences in floral abundance and spatial distribution, as well as urban cover in the landscape, predicted different bee community variables. Abundance of all bees and of honeybees (Apis mellifera) was lower in sites with more urban land cover surrounding the gardens. Honeybee abundance was higher in sites with patchy floral resources, whereas bee species richness and bee diversity was higher in sites with more clustered floral resources. Surprisingly, bee species richness and bee diversity was lower in sites with very high floral abundance, possibly due to interactions with honeybees. Other studies have documented the importance of floral abundance and landscape surroundings for bees in urban gardens, but this study is the first to document that the spatial arrangement of flowers strongly predicts bee abundance and richness. Based on these findings, it is likely that garden managers may promote bee conservation by managing for floral connectivity and abundance within these ubiquitous urban habitats.

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Santos, Claudia Oliveira dos, Cândida Maria Lima Aguiar, Celso Feitosa Martins, Edson Braz Santana, Flávio França, Efigênia Melo, and Gilberto Marcos M. Santos. "Food niche of solitary and social bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) in a Neotropical Savanna." Sociobiology 67, no. 4 (December 28, 2020): 554. http://dx.doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v67i4.5841.

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In this study we investigated the group of floral resources that support bee populations from a bee assemblage in a savanna, and the way in which bee species use these food resources, with an emphasis on the breadth and overlap of trophic niches. The interactions between 75 species of bees and 62 species of plants visited to obtain floral resources were recorded on a Brazilian savanna site. The bee species explored a diverse set of plant species, but concentrated the collection of resources in a few plant species. The distribution of the samples over a long period favored a robust characterization of the food niche of the bee populations. Byrsonima sericea, Serjania faveolata, and Stigmaphyllon paralias were the plant species with the highest number of links with bees. In general, the trophic niche overlap was low, with 75% of pairs of bee species having a niche overlap (NO) less than 0.33. Only four pairs showed high overlap (NO>0.70) and all cases were related to the exploitation of floral resources provided by B. sericea, a key resource for the maintenance of the local bee fauna, an oil and pollen provider.

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Polatto, Leandro Pereira, Valter Vieira Alves Junior, João Cloves Stanzani Dutra, and José Chaud-Netto. "Foraging activity of africanized honeybees (Apis mellifera L.): A study of nectar and pollen resources on a temporal scale." EntomoBrasilis 12, no. 1 (April 30, 2019): 11–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.12741/ebrasilis.v12i1.821.

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Abstract. The spatial and temporal distribution of food resources, as well as the type, quantity, and quality of the foods stocked in the hive are the principal regulatory factors of the choice and intensity of floral resource harvesting by bees. We evaluated the annual foraging activity of Africanized honeybees Apis mellifera L. (Apidae) on the most abundant natural food resources available. Nineteen abundant plant species susceptible to foraging by bee communities in the interior of a secondary growth forest fragment with a transition physiognomy between Atlantic Forest and Cerradão vegetation were accompanied to estimate the intensity of floral resource collection by Africanized honeybees A. mellifera during the year. We determined the productivity of the flowers (the quality and quantity of nectar and/or pollen made available) and floral abundance (the quantities of flowers produced and the duration of flowering) of the 19 plant species selected. Africanized honeybees A. mellifera collected floral resources from 11 species. The intensities of visits per flower and per area of floral exposition were greater among plant species visited by Africanized honeybees when bee collecting behavior resulted in pollen transfer to the floral stigmas. It is estimated that 70.5% of all visits by Africanized honeybees A. mellifera individuals during the year in the study area occurred on Senegalia polyphylla (DC.) Britton & Rose (Fabaceae), Grazielia cf. dimorpholepis (Baker) R.M.King & H.Rob (Asteraceae), and Gouania cf. latifolia Reissek (Rhaminaceae); those visits demonstrated seasonal patterns, with peaks of activity between January and April. Weak foraging activity was observed in June and between June and November.Atividade de forrageio de abelhas africanizadas (Apis mellifera L.): um estudo das fontes de néctar e pólen em uma escala temporalResumo. A distribuição espacial e temporal dos recursos alimentares, bem como o tipo, quantidade e qualidade do alimento estocado na colmeia são os principais fatores reguladores na escolha e intensidade da coleta dos recursos florais pelas abelhas. O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar a atividade anual de forrageio de abelhas africanizadas Apis mellifera L. (Apidae) nas fontes alimentares naturais mais abundantes. A coleta de dados foi realizada em 19 espécies vegetais abundantes e suscetíveis ao forrageio pela comunidade de abelhas no interior de um fragmento de floresta secundária com fisionomia em transição entre Mata Atlântica e Cerradão, durante um ano. Para estimar a intensidade de coleta de recursos florais pelas abelhas africanizadas A. mellifera, foi determinada a produtividade das flores (qualidade e quantidade do néctar e/ou pólen alocada nas flores) e a abundância (quantidade de flores e duração do florescimento) das 19 espécies vegetais selecionadas. As abelhas africanizadas A. mellifera coletaram recursos florais em 11 espécies vegetais. As intensidades de visitas por flor e áreas de exposição floral foram superior nas espécies de plantas que foram visitadas pelas abelhas africanizadas A. mellifera cujos comportamentos de coleta resultavam em transferência de pólen aos estigmas das flores. Estima-se que 70,5% de todas as visitas promovidas por A. mellifera africanizada no decorrer do ano na região de estudo ocorreram em Senegalia polyphylla (DC.) Britton & Rose (Fabaceae), Grazielia cf. dimorpholepis (Baker) R.M.King & H.Rob (Asteraceae), e Gouania cf. latifolia Reissek (Rhaminaceae), demonstrando, dessa forma, um padrão sazonal, com picos de atividade em janeiro, abril e agosto, respectivamente. Por outro lado, houve fraca atividade de forrageio em junho e entre setembro e novembro.

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Matias, Raphael, Marco Túlio Furtado, Silvia B. Rodrigues, and Hélder Consolaro. "Floral resource availability of Dicliptera squarrosa (Acanthaceae) and its dependence on hummingbirds for fruit formation in a forest fragment of Central Brazil." Plant Ecology and Evolution 152, no. 1 (March 25, 2019): 68–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.2019.1537.

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Background and aims – Hummingbirds are dependent and specialized on nectar-feeding, and many plants depend upon them for pollination. However, the degree of plant-pollinator interdependence varies greatly among species; thus, information on plant mating systems and availability of resources may help to clarify the dependence of interacting organisms. The goals of this study were to (1) quantify the floral resource available during the flowering of Dicliptera squarrosa Nees for comparison with other co-flowering ornithophilous species, and to (2) determine the importance of floral visitors for the reproductive success of this plant.Methods – Data collection was performed in a forest fragment within the urban perimeter of Catalão, Goiás, from September 2012 to August 2013. We investigated the flowering phenology, floral biology, nectar characteristics, flower visitors and mating systems of D. squarrosa. Additionally, we evaluated the amount of floral resource offered (number of flowers and energy in joules) by co-flowering ornithophilous species within an area of 6000 m2 for comparison with D. squarrosa.Key results – Dicliptera squarrosa presents flowers adapted to pollination by hummingbirds, which act as the sole pollinator group for flowers of this species. Flowering occurs from June to September and is synchronous with five other co-flowering species. During the months between July and September, D. squarrosa is the main food source for hummingbirds in the area, offering more floral resources than all of the other five ornithophilous species together. Plants of this species are self-compatible, but they depend on hummingbirds to transfer pollen; levels of autonomous autogamy were low.Conclusions – We suggest that D. squarrosa is an important species for maintaining hummingbirds in the forest fragment due to its high production of nectar resources. In addition, data on floral biology, flower visitors, and mating systems showed the importance of hummingbirds for reproduction of D. squarrosa, suggesting a mutualistic interaction between plant and hummingbirds.

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Hogg, Brian N., Erik H. Nelson, Nicholas J. Mills, and Kent M. Daane. "Floral resources enhance aphid suppression by a hoverfly." Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 141, no. 2 (October 4, 2011): 138–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1570-7458.2011.01174.x.

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Trinkl, Moritz, Benjamin F. Kaluza, Helen Wallace, Tim A. Heard, Alexander Keller, and Sara D. Leonhardt. "Floral Species Richness Correlates with Changes in the Nutritional Quality of Larval Diets in a Stingless Bee." Insects 11, no. 2 (February 15, 2020): 125. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11020125.

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Bees need food of appropriate nutritional quality to maintain their metabolic functions. They largely obtain all required nutrients from floral resources, i.e., pollen and nectar. However, the diversity, composition and nutritional quality of floral resources varies with the surrounding environment and can be strongly altered in human-impacted habitats. We investigated whether differences in plant species richness as found in the surrounding environment correlated with variation in the floral diversity and nutritional quality of larval provisions (i.e., mixtures of pollen, nectar and salivary secretions) composed by the mass-provisioning stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria (Apidae: Meliponini). We found that the floral diversity of larval provisions increased with increasing plant species richness. The sucrose and fat (total fatty acid) content and the proportion and concentration of the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid decreased, whereas the proportion of the omega-3 fatty acid linolenic acid increased with increasing plant species richness. Protein (total amino acid) content and amino acid composition did not change. The protein to fat (P:F) ratio, known to affect bee foraging, increased on average by more than 40% from plantations to forests and gardens, while the omega-6:3 ratio, known to negatively affect cognitive performance, decreased with increasing plant species richness. Our results suggest that plant species richness may support T. carbonaria colonies by providing not only a continuous resource supply (as shown in a previous study), but also floral resources of high nutritional quality.

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Del Toro, Israel, and Relena R. Ribbons. "No Mow May lawns have higher pollinator richness and abundances: An engaged community provides floral resources for pollinators." PeerJ 8 (September 22, 2020): e10021. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10021.

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No Mow May is a community science initiative popularized in recent years that encourages property owners to limit their lawn mowing practices during the month of May. The goal of No Mow May is to provide early season foraging resources for pollinators that emerge in the spring, especially in urban landscapes when few floral resources are available. We worked with the city council of Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. to allow No Mow May to take place in May 2020. Four hundred and thirty-five property owners registered for No Mow May in Appleton. We measured floral and bee richness and abundance in the yards of a subset of homes (N = 20) located near regularly mowed urban parks (N = 15) at the end of the month. We found that homes that participated in No Mow May had more diverse and abundant flora than regularly mowed green spaces throughout the city. No Mow May homes had three times higher bee richness and five times higher bee abundances than frequently mowed greenspaces. Using generalized linear models, we found that the best predictor of bee richness was the size of the designated unmowed area, and the best predictors of bee abundances were the size of the unmowed area as well as floral richness. While our findings cannot conclusively attribute increases in bee abundances and richness to the No Mow May efforts, our data does show that bee pollinators make use of no mow spaces as key floral resources during early spring in the upper midwestern United States. A post-No Mow May survey revealed that the participants were keen to increase native floral resources in their yards, increase native bee nesting habitat, reduce mowing intensities, and limit herbicide, pesticide, and fertilizer applications to their lawns. The No Mow May initiative educated an engaged community on best practices to improve the conservation of urban pollinators in future years.

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Pinkus-Rendon, Miguel Angel, Víctor Parra-Tabla, and Virginia Meléndez-Ramírez. "Floral resource use and interactions between Apis mellifera and native bees in cucurbit crops in Yucatán, México." Canadian Entomologist 137, no. 4 (August 2005): 441–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/n04-043.

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AbstractDespite the importance of native pollinators in agricultural systems, little is known about the potential competitive interactions among them or the way they exploit crops' floral resources. This study determines the temporal use of floral resources by, and interspecific interactions between, native bees and Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in experimental plots of squash, Cucurbita moschata (Duchesne ex Lam.) Duchesne ex Poir. (Cucurbitaceae), and watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) (Cucurbitaceae). General and specific niche overlap analyses were done to determine whether temporally differential use of floral resources occurred. Direct displacement interactions at the floral level were quantified. The species with the greatest abundances were Peponapis limitaris Cockerell (Apidae), Partamona bilineata Say (Apidae), and A. mellifera. Overall, the niche overlap analyses in both crops suggested that floral resources are not used simultaneously by different bee species. Winner events during aggressive encounters suggested a hierarchy among bee species, with A. mellifera being one of the species with more winner encounters in both crops. It is suggested that those deciding whether or not to introduce A. mellifera into crops should consider whether the abundance of native bee species is sufficient to ensure efficient fruit production.

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Ammar, Ahmad S. "Nanotechnologies associated to floral resources in agri-food sector." Acta Agronómica 67, no. 1 (January 1, 2018): 148–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/acag.v67n1.62011.

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El advenimiento de la nanotecnología en el sector agrícola está programado para impulsar la próxima revolución en la ingeniería agrícola. Sin embargo, existe una creciente necesidad de desarrollo de nuevas nanotecnologías que puedan trabajar sincrónicamente con diversos agroquímicos como fertilizantes, pesticidas, herbicidas y promotores de crecimiento para aumentar potencialmente la eficiencia de las tierras de cultivo, preservar los agroecosistemas y disminuir lo negativo Riesgos para la salud impuestas por las prácticas convencionales. En nanotecnología, los sistemas inteligentes de entrega que utilizan portadores a nanoescala como nanotubos de arcilla y nanotubos de carbono o nanopartículas como nanopartículas de sílice mesoporosas y nanopartículas de plata, podrían permitir no sólo la entrega precisa y específica de ingredientes funcionales sino también su difusión imparcial sobre las tierras de cultivo. La nanotecnología ha encontrado aplicaciones para la biorremediación del agua de riego y la escorrentía agrícola, la mejora de los rasgos de los cultivos mediante la manipulación genética de los genomas a nivel molecular y la detección de cantidades diminutas de contaminantes y factores de estrés, El seguimiento continuo del medio ambiente vegetal mediante el empleo de nanobiosensores. Los científicos están trabajando diligentemente para explorar nuevos sustitutos de las tecnologías convencionales. Los avances en nanotecnología podrían ayudarles a explorar nuevas fronteras y encontrar nuevas aplicaciones en el sector agrícola.

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Requier, Fabrice, Jean-François Odoux, Thierry Tamic, Nathalie Moreau, Mickaël Henry, Axel Decourtye, and Vincent Bretagnolle. "Floral Resources Used by Honey Bees in Agricultural Landscapes." Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 96, no. 3 (July 2015): 487–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/0012-9623-96.3.487.

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Oliveira Cobra, Simone Santos, Celice Alexandre Silva, Willian Krause, and Laís Lage. "Availability of floral resources in yellow passion fruit cultivars." Comunicata Scientiae 8, no. 4 (April 12, 2018): 555–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.14295/cs.v8i4.2071.

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The reproductive strategies and resources available in the flower are characteristics that stimulate research studies on the genetic improvement and fruit yield of commercial cultivars. In this sense, this study aimed to study the floral biology aspects of passion fruit cultivars in Tangará da Serra region, Mato Grosso State, Brazil at different evaluation times. The experiment was carried out with eight cultivars of yellow passion fruit from an ex situ germplasm bank of the State University of Mato Grosso. The floral resources (pollen and nectar) were evaluated in a completely randomized, factorial arrangement (8 cultivars x 5 evaluation times), with five replications. Throughout anthesis, the pollen viability, stigma receptivity, and sugar volume and concentration in the nectar were evaluated. The evaluations were carried out in 1-h intervals, between 1:30 and 5:30 p.m. The highest nectar volume production was at 2:30 p.m., decreasing gradually thereafter at the later evaluation times, for all cultivars. Pollen viability increased from the first to the second evaluation time and then decreased gradually until the last evaluation. Stigma receptivity was higher than 90% in all cultivars, at all evaluation times. BRS Rubi do Cerrado and FB 200 were the most promising cultivars for nectar volume and concentration, pollen viability, and stigma receptivity characteristics.

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Woodcock, B. A., J. Savage, J. M. Bullock, M. Nowakowski, R. Orr, J. R. B. Tallowin, and R. F. Pywell. "Enhancing floral resources for pollinators in productive agricultural grasslands." Biological Conservation 171 (March 2014): 44–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.01.023.

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Scarratt, S. L., S. D. Wratten, and P. Shishehbor. "Measuring parasitoid movement from floral resources in a vineyard." Biological Control 46, no. 2 (August 2008): 107–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2008.03.016.

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Langlois, Alban, Anne-Laure Jacquemart, and Julien Piqueray. "Contribution of Extensive Farming Practices to the Supply of Floral Resources for Pollinators." Insects 11, no. 11 (November 20, 2020): 818. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11110818.

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Intensification of agricultural practices leads to a loss of floral resources and drives pollinator decline. Extensive agricultural practices are encouraged in Europe and contribute to the preservation of biodiversity. We compared three agricultural landscapes without extensive farming practices with three adjacent landscapes containing organic crops and extensively managed grasslands in Belgium. Nectar resource availability and plant–pollinator interactions were monitored from April to June. Flower density per plant species and plant–pollinator interactions were recorded in different landscape elements. In April, the main nectar resources were provided by linear elements such as hedgerows and forest edges. Nectar production peaked in May, driven by intensive grasslands and mass-flowering crops. Occurrence of extensive grasslands and organic crops significantly alleviated the nectar resource gap observed in June. Our results underscore the importance of maintaining landscape heterogeneity for continuous flower resources and highlight the specific role of extensive grasslands and organic crops in June.

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KIILL, LÚCIA H. P., KÁTIA M. M. SIQUEIRA, COELHO MÁRCIA S., TAMIRES A. SILVA, DIEGO R. S. GAMA, DIEGO C. S. ARAÚJO, and JOAQUIM PEREIRA NETO. "Frequency and foraging behavior of Apis mellifera in two melon hybrids in Juazeiro, state of Bahia, Brazil." Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 86, no. 4 (December 2014): 2049–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765201420130376.

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The study was carried out to verify if there are differences in foraging frequency and behavior of Apis mellifera in two melon hybrids (10:00 – ‘Yellow melon’ and Sancho -‘Piel de Sapo’) in the municipality of Juazeiro, state of Bahia, Brazil. The frequency, behavior of visitors and the floral resource foraged were registered from 5:00 am to 6:00 pm. There was a significant difference in the frequency of visits when comparing hydrids (F = 103.74, p <0.0001), floral type (F = 47.25, p <0.0001) and resource foraged (F = 239.14, p <0.0001). The flowers of Sancho were more attractive to A. mellifera when compared with hybrid 10:00, which may be correlated to the morphology and floral resources available. This could be solved with scaled planting, avoiding the overlapping of flowering of both types.

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Sousa Filho, Leonardo Norberto de, Jean Bressan Albarello, Mayara Martins Cardozo, Márcia Regina Faita, and Cristina Magalhães Ribas dos Santos. "Reproductive biology of Kalanchoe laetivirens (Crassulaceae) in the edaphoclimatic conditions of Santa Catarina, Brazil." Research, Society and Development 10, no. 1 (January 13, 2021): e27010111567. http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v10i1.11567.

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Crassulaceae of the Kalanchoe laetivirens species have ornamental potential, but are poorly studied, especially their reproductive biology and trophic resources made available to visitors. The aim of this study, therefore, was to characterize the reproductive system of K. laetivirens through analyses of floral morphology, trophic resources and floral visitors. Floral structures, pollen / egg ratio, in vitro pollen germination, pollen grain structure in scanning microscopy and the availability of trophic resources by the evaluation of potential and instant nectar were described. The survey of floral visitors was carried out, and the pollen and nectar collection frequencies were recorded. The results show that the species has tubular flowers, complete with tetramer calyx and corolla, eight epipetalous stamens and four pistils with pluriovulated ovaries. Based on pollen / ovule ratio, this species is optionally autogamous. Morphologically, the pollen grain is small, tricolporate and has radial symmetrywith in vitro germination facilitated in the presence of sucrose (20%). Visitors mostly collected pollen with the highest frequency of visits at 9:30 am. The production of instant nectar had little variation between the evaluated times. The results are relevant to the understanding of the reproductive biology of Kalanchoe laetivirens and its relationship with floral visitors.

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Prendergast, Kit S., Kingsley W. Dixon, and Philip W. Bateman. "Interactions between the introduced European honey bee and native bees in urban areas varies by year, habitat type and native bee guild." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 133, no. 3 (April 5, 2021): 725–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab024.

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Abstract European honey bees have been introduced across the globe and may compete with native bees for floral resources. Compounding effects of urbanization and introduced species on native bees are, however, unclear. Here, we investigated how honey bee abundance and foraging patterns related to those of native bee abundance and diversity in residential gardens and native vegetation remnants for 2 years in urbanized areas of the Southwest Australian biodiversity hotspot and assessed how niche overlap influenced these relationships. Honey bees did not overtly suppress native bee abundance; however, complex relationships emerged when analysing these relationships according to body size, time of day and floral resource levels. Native bee richness was positively correlated with overall honeybee abundance in the first year, but negatively correlated in the second year, and varied with body size. Native bees that had higher resource overlap with honey bees were negatively associated with honey bee abundance, and resource overlap between honey bees and native bees was higher in residential gardens. Relationships with honey bees varied between native bee taxa, reflecting adaptations to different flora, plus specialization. Thus, competition with introduced bees varies by species and location, mediated by dietary breadth and overlap and by other life-history traits of individual bee species.

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González-Chang, Mauricio, Sundar Tiwari, Sheela Sharma, and Steve D. Wratten. "Habitat Management for Pest Management: Limitations and Prospects." Annals of the Entomological Society of America 112, no. 4 (May 1, 2019): 302–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saz020.

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AbstractHabitat management is an important strategy for pest control in integrated pest management (IPM). Various categories of habitat management such as trap cropping, intercropping, natural enemy refuges such as ‘beetle banks’, and floral resources for parasitoids and predators, have been used in applied insect ecology for many years. In a broader sense, two mechanisms, the ‘enemies hypothesis’ and the ‘resource concentration hypothesis’ have been identified as acting independently or combined in pest population dynamics. The ‘enemies hypothesis’ directly supports the conservation and enhancement of natural enemies, floral resources such as shelter, nectar, alternative food sources, and pollen (SNAP) to improve conservation biological control. The ‘resource concentration hypothesis’ emphasizes how the host selection behavior of herbivores in a diverse habitat can reduce pest colonization in crops. This review emphasizes the potential of these approaches, as well as possible dis-services, and includes limitations and considerations needed to boost the efficacy of these strategies worldwide.

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Harris, B. A., E. M. Poole, S. K. Braman, and S. V. Pennisi. "Consumer-Ready Insect Hotels: An Assessment of Arthropod Visitation and Nesting Success." Journal of Entomological Science 56, no. 2 (April 1, 2021): 141–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.18474/0749-8004-56.2.141.

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Abstract Insect nesting boxes and hotels have the potential to provide shelter and overwintering sites for beneficial insect communities such as pollinating bees, wasps, earwigs, and other predatory arthropods. This study evaluated beneficial arthropod visitation to consumer-ready, commercially available nesting boxes over a 2-yr period. Insect hotels were placed on mature river birch (Betula nigra L.) and crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica L.) in garden plots established with floral resources for pollinators and other beneficial insects. Paper and thread-waisted wasps, soldier flies, predatory ants, and spiders were observed visiting the boxes. Boxes located in garden plot treatments (with floral resources) had the greatest numbers and diversity of pollinator and beneficial insect taxa compared to control plot treatments (naturalized areas away from floral resources) in 2016. Insect hotels placed on B. nigra had a higher number of thread-waisted wasps in 2016 and spiders and total beneficial insects in 2017. Higher numbers of predatory ants and total beneficial arthropods were found in boxes placed on L. indica in 2016. During the study, bamboo stems and drilled tunnels in the insect boxes were evaluated for arthropod inhabitance. Largest counts of occupied stems and tunnels were observed in boxes placed in proximity to floral resources and on L. indica trees.

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Schmid-Hempel, Paul, and Stephan Durrer. "Parasites, Floral Resources and Reproduction in Natural Populations of Bumblebees." Oikos 62, no. 3 (December 1991): 342. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3545499.

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McIntosh, Hanna R., Victoria P. Skillman, Gracie Galindo, and Jana C. Lee. "Floral Resources for Trissolcus japonicus, a Parasitoid of Halyomorpha halys." Insects 11, no. 7 (July 3, 2020): 413. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects11070413.

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The egg parasitoid Trissolcus japonicus is the main candidate for classical biocontrol of the invasive agricultural pest Halyomorpha halys. The efficacy of classical biocontrol depends on the parasitoid’s survival and conservation in the agroecosystem. Most parasitoid species rely on floral nectar as a food source, thus identifying nectar sources for T. japonicus is critical. We evaluated the impact of eight flowering plant species on T. japonicus survival in the lab by exposing unfed wasps to flowers inside vials. We also measured the wasps’ nutrient levels to confirm feeding and energy storage using anthrone and vanillin assays adapted for T. japonicus. Buckwheat, cilantro, and dill provided the best nectar sources for T. japonicus by improving median survival by 15, 3.5, and 17.5 days compared to water. These three nectar sources increased wasps’ sugar levels, and cilantro and dill also increased glycogen levels. Sweet alyssum, marigold, crimson clover, yellow mustard, and phacelia did not improve wasp survival or nutrient reserves. Further research is needed to determine if these flowers maintain their benefits in the field and whether they will increase the parasitism rate of H. halys.

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Crone, Elizabeth E. "Responses of Social and Solitary Bees to Pulsed Floral Resources." American Naturalist 182, no. 4 (October 2013): 465–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/671999.

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RAMALHO, M., V. L. IMPERATRIZ-FONSECA, A. KLEINEKT-GIOVANNINI, and M. CORTOPASSl-LAURINO. "EXPLOITATION OF FLORAL RESOURCES BY PLEBEIA REMOTA HOLMBERG (APIDAE, MELIPONINAE)." Apidologie 16, no. 3 (1985): 307–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/apido:19850306.

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Russo, Laura, Nelson DeBarros, Suann Yang, Katriona Shea, and David Mortensen. "Supporting crop pollinators with floral resources: network-based phenological matching." Ecology and Evolution 3, no. 9 (August 2, 2013): 3125–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.703.

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Robinson, Katherine A., Mattias Jonsson, Steve D. Wratten, Mark R. Wade, and Hannah L. Buckley. "Implications of floral resources for predation by an omnivorous lacewing." Basic and Applied Ecology 9, no. 2 (March 2008): 172–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2007.01.002.

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Requier, Fabrice, and Sara D. Leonhardt. "Beyond flowers: including non-floral resources in bee conservation schemes." Journal of Insect Conservation 24, no. 1 (January 2, 2020): 5–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10841-019-00206-1.

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Tropek, Robert, Eliska Padysakova, Eliska Padysakova, Stepan Janecek, and Stepan Janecek. "Floral Resources Partitioning by Two Co-occurring Eusocial Bees in an Afromontane Landscape." Sociobiology 65, no. 3 (October 2, 2018): 527. http://dx.doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v65i3.2824.

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Floral preferences of generalist foragers such as eusocial bees influence the success of pollination of many flowering plants, as well as competition with many other bee species in tropical communities. Eusocial bees are important for the pollination success of many flowering plants, as well as for food resources availability for many other species. However, their foraging preferences are still unknown in many tropical areas, especially in the Afrotropics. We studied the foraging activity of two syntopic eusocial bees with large colonies, the honeybee Apis mellifera Linnaeus and the stingless bee Meliplebeia ogouensis (Vachal), on seven plant species in the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon, in two consecutive years. Simultaneously, we quantified intra- and inter-annual changes in the food resources. We observed resource partitioning among the two bee species. Although both species are considered as generalists, their short-term food niches overlap was very low. Their preferences to the most often visited plants differed even more strongly interannually. Our results bring the first evidence on such relatively strong resource partitioning among two dominant eusocial bee species from West/Central Africa.

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Bottero, Irene, Simon Hodge, and Jane Stout. "Taxon-specific temporal shifts in pollinating insects in mass-flowering crops and field margins in Ireland." Journal of Pollination Ecology 28 (July 9, 2021): 90–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2021)628.

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In intensively cropped agricultural landscapes, the vegetation in edges and hedges (henceforth “field margins”) represents an important semi-natural habitat providing fundamental resources for insect pollinators. We surveyed the pollinating insects associated with two mass-flowering crops, apple and oilseed rape, and compared the insect fauna of the main crop with that in the field margins in the grass-dominated agricultural landscapes of Ireland. Different insect groups responded differently to the presence of the flowering crop, with honey and bumble bees more abundant in crops than margins during crop flowering, but more hover flies and butterflies in margins throughout. The composition of the insect assemblage also shifted over time due to taxon-specific changes in abundance. For example, solitary bees were most abundant early in the season, whereas hover flies peaked, and butterflies declined, in mid-summer. The temporal shift in insect community structure was associated with parallel changes in the field margin flora, and, although we found no relationship between insect abundance and abundance of field margin flowers, Bombus abundance and total insect abundance were positively correlated with floral diversity. After the crop flowering period, floral abundance and diversity was maintained via margin plants, but by late summer, floral resources declined. Our results confirm the importance of field margins for insect pollinators of entomophilous crops set within grass-dominated landscapes, even during the crop flowering period, and provide additional support for agri-environment schemes that protect and/or improve field margin biodiversity. The results also demonstrate that although shifts in insect and plant communities may be linked phenologically there may not always be simple relationships between insect and floral abundance and richness.

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Lorenzon, M. C. A., and C. A. R. Matrangolo. "Foraging on some nonfloral resources by stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Meliponini) in a caatinga region." Brazilian Journal of Biology 65, no. 2 (May 2005): 291–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s1519-69842005000200013.

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In a caatinga region the flowers and nonfloral resources visited by highly eusocial bees, stingless beess and Apis mellifera (Africanized honey bee) were studied. During one year, monthly sampling took place in two sites at Serra da Capivara National Park (Piauí State, Brazil), one of them, including the local village, outside the park, and the other inside, using already existing park trails. With the help of entomological nets, all bees were caught while visiting floral and nonfloral resources. At the study sites we observed more stingless bees in nonfloral resources, made possible by human presence. Twelve stingless bee species used the nonfloral resources in different proportions, showing no preference for time of day, season of the year, or sites. During the rainy season, more water sources and abundant flowering plants were observed, which attract stingless bees, even though many worker bees were found foraging in the aqueous substrates while few were observed at water sources. This relationship was higher for stingless bee species than for Africanized honey bees. Paratrigona lineata was represented by few specimens in floral and nonfloral resources and is perhaps rare in this region. Frieseomelitta silvestrii could be considered rare in the floral resources, but they were abundant in nonfloral resources. The variety and intriguing abundance of bees in nonfloral resources suggests that these are an important part of the stingless bee niches, even if these resources are used for nest construction and defense.

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Lee, Casie, Lisa A. Tell, Tiffany Hilfer, and Rachel L. Vannette. "Microbial communities in hummingbird feeders are distinct from floral nectar and influenced by bird visitation." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286, no. 1898 (March 6, 2019): 20182295. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2295.

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Human provisioning can shape resource availability for wildlife, but consequences for microbiota availability and exchange remain relatively unexplored. Here, we characterized microbial communities on bills and faecal material of hummingbirds and their food resources, including feeders and floral nectar. We experimentally manipulated bird visitation to feeders and examined effects on sucrose solution microbial communities. Birds, feeders and flowers hosted distinct bacterial and fungal communities. Proteobacteria comprised over 80% of nectar bacteria but feeder solutions contained a high relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria. Hummingbirds hosted bacterial taxa commonly found in other birds and novel genera including Zymobacter [Proteobacteria] and Ascomycete fungi. For feeders, bird-visited and unvisited solutions both accumulated abundant microbial populations that changed solution pH, but microbial composition was largely determined by visitation treatment. Our results reveal that feeders host abundant microbial populations, including some bird-associated microbial taxa. Microbial taxa in feeders were primarily non-pathogenic bacteria and fungi but differed substantially from those in floral nectar. These results demonstrate that human provisioning influences microbial intake by free-ranging hummingbirds; however, it is unknown how these changes impact hummingbird gastrointestinal flora or health.

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Faria, Letícia Biral de, Kátia Paula Aleixo, Carlos Alberto Garófalo, Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca, and Cláudia Inês da Silva. "Foraging ofScaptotrigonaaff.depilis(Hymenoptera, Apidae) in an Urbanized Area: Seasonality in Resource Availability and Visited Plants." Psyche: A Journal of Entomology 2012 (2012): 1–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/630628.

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The floral sources used by bees can be identified by analyzing pollen grains obtained from their bodies, feces, brood cells, or storage pots in the nests. In addition to data on resource availability, this information enables the investigation on the selection of food resource by bees. We assessed the foraging patterns ofScaptotrigonaaff.depilisin an urbanized area with seasonal availability of food resources. The species visited a percentage of 36.60% of the available flora, suggesting that these bees are selective at spatiotemporal scale. When many types of resources were available, the workers concentrated their collection activities on a limited group of sources. In contrast, more plant species were exploited during periods of lower number of flowering plants. A monthly analysis of the foraging patterns of the studied colonies revealed thatSyzygium cumini(88.86%),Mimosasp.1 (80.23%),Schinus terebinthifolius(63.36%), andEucalyptus citriodora(61.75%) were the most frequently used species and are therefore important for maintainingS.aff.depilisat the study area. These plants are close to the colonies and exhibit mass flowering. This study is one of few works to quantify natural resource availability and to analyze the effects of flowering seasonality on the selection of food sources by bees.

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Eckerter, Philipp W., Lars Albus, Sharumathi Natarajan, Matthias Albrecht, Lolita Ammann, Erika Gobet, Felix Herzog, Willy Tinner, and Martin H. Entling. "Using Temporally Resolved Floral Resource Maps to Explain Bumblebee Colony Performance in Agricultural Landscapes." Agronomy 10, no. 12 (December 18, 2020): 1993. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10121993.

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Wild bumblebees are key pollinators of crops and wild plants that rely on the continuous availability of floral resources. A better understanding of the spatio-temporal availability and use of floral food resources may help to promote bumblebees and their pollination services in agricultural landscapes. We placed colonies of Bombus terrestris L. in 24 agricultural landscapes with various degrees of floral resource availability and assessed different parameters of colony growth and fitness. We estimated pollen availability during different periods of colony development based on detailed information of the bumblebee pollen diet and the spatial distribution of the visited plant species. Total pollen availability did not significantly explain colony growth or fitness. However, when using habitat maps, the weight gain of colonies, the number of queen cells, and colony survival decreased with increasing distance from the forest. The better explanation of bumblebee performance by forest proximity than by (plant-inferred) pollen availability indicates that other functions of forests than pollen provision were important. The conservation of forests next to agricultural land might help to sustain high populations of these important wild pollinators and enhance their crop pollination services. Combining different mapping approaches might help to further disentangle complex relationships between B. terrestris and their environment in agricultural landscapes.

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Aguiar, Cândida Maria Lima, Juliana Caramés, Flavio França, and Efigenia Melo. "Exploitation of Floral Resources and Niche Overlap within an Oil-collecting Bee Guild (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in a Neotropical Savanna." Sociobiology 64, no. 1 (May 30, 2017): 78. http://dx.doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v64i1.1250.

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Oil bees exploit host plants for resources to feed the adults and offspring, as well as for the construction of their nests. The aim of the current study is to investigate how the species in this guild distribute their foraging effort, and the range in their niche overlap levels. The bees were sampled for six months, during their visits to the flowers in a savanna (“cerrado”). These oil-bee species explored the floral resources provided by 13 plant species. The trophic niche of the most abundant species, Centris aenea Lepeletier, was relatively narrow, similarly to those of Epicharis species. Low overlap of trophic niches (TrNO≤30%) was most commonly found. The distribution of bee visits to the host plants revealed redundancy in the floral resource exploitation. However, the foraging concentration levels in some key plants were different for distinct oil-bee species, and it contributed to the low overlap of niches between many pairs of species

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Dorado, Jimena, and Diego P. Vázquez. "Flower diversity and bee reproduction in an arid ecosystem." PeerJ 4 (July 26, 2016): e2250. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2250.

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Background:Diverse flower communities are more stable in floral resource production along the flowering season, but the question about how the diversity and stability of resources affect pollinator reproduction remains open. High plant diversity could favor short foraging trips, which in turn would enhance bee fitness. In addition to plant diversity, greater temporal stability of floral resources in diverse communities could favor pollinator fitness because such communities are likely to occupy the phenological space more broadly, increasing floral availability for pollinators throughout the season. In addition, this potential effect of flower diversity on bee reproduction could be stronger for generalist pollinators because they can use a broader floral spectrum. Based on above arguments we predicted that pollinator reproduction would be positively correlated to flower diversity, and to temporal stability in flower production, and that this relationship would be stronger for the most generalized pollinator species.Materials and Methods:Using structural equation models, we evaluated the effect of these variables and other ecological factors on three estimates of bee reproduction (average number of brood cells per nest per site, total number of brood cells per site, and total number of nests per site), and whether such effects were modulated by bee generalization on floral resources.Results:Contrary to our expectations, flower diversity had no effect on bee reproduction, stability in flower production had a weakly negative effect on one of the bee reproductive variables, and the strength of the fitness-diversity relationship was unrelated to bee generalization. In contrast, elevation had a negative effect on bee reproduction, despite the narrow elevation range encompassed by our sites.Discussion:Flower diversity did not affect the reproduction of the solitary bees studied here. This result could stem from the context dependence of the diversity-stability relationship, given that elevation had a positive effect on flower diversity but a negative effect on bee reproduction. Although high temporal stability in flower production is expected to enhance pollinator reproduction, in our study it had a weakly negative—instead of positive—effect on the average number of brood cells per nest. Other environmental factors that vary with elevation could influence bee reproduction. Our study focused on a small group of closely-related bee species, which cautions against generalization of our findings to other groups of pollinators. More studies are clearly needed to assess the extent to which pollinator demography is influenced by the diversity of floral resources.

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Jonsson, M., S. D. Wratten, K. A. Robinson, and S. A. Sam. "The impact of floral resources and omnivory on a four trophic level food web." Bulletin of Entomological Research 99, no. 3 (December 9, 2008): 275–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0007485308006275.

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AbstractOmnivory is common among arthropods, but little is known about how availability of plant resources and prey affects interactions between species operating at the third and fourth trophic level. We used laboratory and field cage experiments to investigate how the provision of flowers affects an omnivorous lacewing, Micromus tasmaniae (Hemerobiidae) and its parasitoid Anacharis zealandica (Figitidae). The adult lacewing is a true omnivore that feeds on both floral resources and aphids, whereas the parasitoid is a life-history omnivore, feeding on lacewing larvae in the larval stage and floral nectar as an adult. We showed that the effect of floral resources (buckwheat) on lacewing oviposition depends on prey (aphid) density, having a positive effect only at low prey density and that buckwheat substantially increases the longevity of the adult parasitoid. In field cages, we tested how provision of flowering buckwheat affects the dynamics of a four trophic level system, comprising parasitoids, lacewings, pea aphids and alfalfa. We found that provision of buckwheat decreased the density of lacewings in the first phase of the experiment when the density of aphids was high. This effect was probably caused by increased rate of parasitism by the parasitoid, which benefits from the presence of buckwheat. Towards the end of the experiment when the aphid populations had declined to low levels, the effect of buckwheat on lacewing density became positive, probably because lacewings were starving in the no-buckwheat treatment. Although presence of buckwheat flowers did not affect aphid populations in the field cages, these findings highlight the need to consider multitrophic interactions when proposing provision of floral resources as a technique for sustainable pest management.

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Delaney, J. T., K. J. Jokela, and D. M. Debinski. "Seasonal succession of pollinator floral resources in four types of grasslands." Ecosphere 6, no. 11 (November 2015): art243. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/es15-00218.1.

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Sharma, M. V., R. Uma Shaanker, S. R. Leather, R. Vasudeva, and K. R. Shivanna. "Floral resources, pollinators and fruiting in a threatened tropical deciduous tree." Journal of Plant Ecology 4, no. 4 (November 25, 2010): 259–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtq029.

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Branquart, Etienne, and Jean-Louis Hemptinne. "Selectivity in the exploitation of floral resources by hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphinae)." Ecography 23, no. 6 (December 2000): 732–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0587.2000.230610.x.

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Williams, Livy, and Donald L. Hendrix. "Comparing different floral resources on the longevity of a parasitic wasp." Agricultural and Forest Entomology 10, no. 1 (January 8, 2008): 23–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-9563.2007.00355.x.

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Journal articles on the topic 'Floral resources'

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