Which insects are the best pollinators? September 3, 2015 A bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) on Erica tetralix Bees top the charts for pollination success according to one of the first studies of insect functionality within pollination networks, published today by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of St Andrews. Flowers receive a wide range of visitors, but not all of them are equally effective at depositing pollen.
By measuring visits and pollen deposition to all flower species on a heathland in Dorset the team have captured new data which will allow conservationists to identify the most important plant visitors and plants that are at risk, as well as helping to plan for food security. Previous studies have often focused on the number of visits plant pollinators make to flowers, rather than how effective they are at pollination 1 . However, this approach may not always recognise variance in pollination abilities due to pollen thieves or other visitors that are inefficient at moving pollen and may not benefit the flowers.
However the research, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B , investigated pollen deposition onto stigmas of flowers of the five most common plant species 2 found in the Dorset heathland. This approach has enabled researchers to develop pollinator importance networks, which not only reveal that bumblebees are the main flower visitors at the Dorset heathland site, but that they are also the most successful potential pollinators. Among the other top-performers in this insect super-league were honeybees and solitary bees.
Lead author Dr Gavin Ballantyne of the University of St Andrews' School of Biology said: "Vital crops such as oilseed rape, apples and strawberries, as well as thousands of wild plants, all require pollination by a wide range of animal pollinators which can be visualised as a network of interacting species. However, the structure and stability of these wider networks are not fully understood and the plant and insect species 3 involved may often be under threat. "Understanding how pollinator importance networks, like those we studied on Dorset heathland, are structured is crucial to understanding community interactions and thus how to restore and conserve pollination services in the face of pollinator decline." Co-author Dr Katherine Baldock of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences said: "This study represents an important step forward in how we understand the relationships among plants and their pollinators. Including information on the pollinating efficiency of animals that visit flowers in network studies will lead to a greater understanding of how these complex communities are structured and which species are important pollinators of crops and wild flowers." However the research also warns against focusing on chart-topping bees as the solution to conservation and biodiversity concerns.
Although bees deposited the greatest mean quantities of pollen 4 grains on stigmas, deposition rates were highly variable and many visitor groups had an important role to play. This means that more attention must be paid to a wider network of insects if food production and biodiversity are to remain stable. Explore further: Robust network of insect pollinators may collapse suddenly, study finds 5 More information: "Constructing more informative plant pollinator networks: visitation and pollen deposition networks in a heathland plant community." Proc.
R. Soc. B 2015 282 20151130; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1130 6 More from Biology 7 Related Stories Robust network of insect pollinators may collapse suddenly, study finds 8 January 6, 2014 The global decline of bees, hoverflies and other pollinators pose a serious threat to food security and biodiversity.
A team of scientists from Wageningen University, Netherlands, and Do ana Biological Station show in the ... Study shows urban habitats provide haven for UK bees 9 February 11, 2015 Urban environments might not seem the best habitat for pollinators at first glance but a new study, led by the University of Bristol, suggests that bees and other pollinating bugs actually thrive as well in towns and cities ... Study finds flies are key to pollination 10 March 25, 2015 Flies play an important role as pollinators and should no longer be neglected in pollination studies, according to a new study led by University of Bristol researchers, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Insect's wings key to azalea pollination 11 June 9, 2015 A researcher from North Carolina State University has found that in the case of the flame azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum), all pollinators are not created equal. In fact, due to the flower's unique reproductive structure, ... Summer fruits depend on pollinators, but where have all the bees gone? 12 July 28, 2015 Blackberries and blueberries.
Cherries and peaches. Raspberries and apricots. These and many other summer fruits require pollination by bees.
Parasitized bees are self-medicating in the wild, study finds 13 September 1, 2015 Bumblebees infected with a common intestinal parasite are drawn to flowers whose nectar and pollen have a medicinal effect, a Dartmouth-led study shows. The findings suggest that plant chemistry could help combat the decline ... Recommended for you Which insects are the best pollinators? 14 September 3, 2015 Bees top the charts for pollination success according to one of the first studies of insect functionality within pollination networks, published today by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of St Andrews.
New research shows why cats are more independent than dogs 15 September 3, 2015 Domestic cats do not generally see their owners as a focus of safety and security in the same way that dogs do, according to new research published today. Study reveals how distinctive termite mounds are ventilated, could offer lessons to human architects 16 September 2, 2015 As animal architects go, the average termite doesn't have many tools at their disposal - just their bodies, soil and saliva. And as guidance, variations in wind speed and direction and daily fluctuations in temperature as ...
Animal without synapses feeds by external digestion using global, local cellular control 17 September 2, 2015 A multicellular marine animal without organs, Trichoplax's feeding behavior may include cellular coordination, resulting in external food digestion, according to a study published September 2, 2015 in the open-access journal ... Scientists discover key clues in turtle evolution 18 September 2, 2015 A research team led by NYIT scientist Gaberiel Bever has determined that a 260-million year-old fossil species found in South Africa's Karoo Basin provides a long awaited glimpse into the murky origins of turtles. Change in environment can lead to rapid evolution, researchers say 19 September 2, 2015 A new Florida State University study is giving researchers a glimpse at how organisms from fish to flowers to tumors evolve in response to rapid environmental change.
0 comments Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more 20 21 Click here 22 to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made. Which insects are the best pollinators? September 3, 2015 A bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) on Erica tetralix Bees top the charts for pollination success according to one of the first studies of insect functionality within pollination networks, published today by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of St Andrews.
Flowers receive a wide range of visitors, but not all of them are equally effective at depositing pollen. By measuring visits and pollen deposition to all flower species on a heathland in Dorset the team have captured new data which will allow conservationists to identify the most important plant visitors and plants that are at risk, as well as helping to plan for food security. Previous studies have often focused on the number of visits plant pollinators make to flowers, rather than how effective they are at pollination 23 .
However, this approach may not always recognise variance in pollination abilities due to pollen thieves or other visitors that are inefficient at moving pollen and may not benefit the flowers. However the research, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B , investigated pollen deposition onto stigmas of flowers of the five most common plant species 24 found in the Dorset heathland. This approach has enabled researchers to develop pollinator importance networks, which not only reveal that bumblebees are the main flower visitors at the Dorset heathland site, but that they are also the most successful potential pollinators.
Among the other top-performers in this insect super-league were honeybees and solitary bees. Lead author Dr Gavin Ballantyne of the University of St Andrews' School of Biology said: "Vital crops such as oilseed rape, apples and strawberries, as well as thousands of wild plants, all require pollination by a wide range of animal pollinators which can be visualised as a network of interacting species. However, the structure and stability of these wider networks are not fully understood and the plant and insect species 25 involved may often be under threat. "Understanding how pollinator importance networks, like those we studied on Dorset heathland, are structured is crucial to understanding community interactions and thus how to restore and conserve pollination services in the face of pollinator decline." Co-author Dr Katherine Baldock of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences said: "This study represents an important step forward in how we understand the relationships among plants and their pollinators.
Including information on the pollinating efficiency of animals that visit flowers in network studies will lead to a greater understanding of how these complex communities are structured and which species are important pollinators of crops and wild flowers." However the research also warns against focusing on chart-topping bees as the solution to conservation and biodiversity concerns. Although bees deposited the greatest mean quantities of pollen 26 grains on stigmas, deposition rates were highly variable and many visitor groups had an important role to play. This means that more attention must be paid to a wider network of insects if food production and biodiversity are to remain stable.
Explore further: Robust network of insect pollinators may collapse suddenly, study finds 27 More information: "Constructing more informative plant pollinator networks: visitation and pollen deposition networks in a heathland plant community." Proc. R. Soc.
B 2015 282 20151130; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1130 28 More from Biology 29 Related Stories Robust network of insect pollinators may collapse suddenly, study finds 30 January 6, 2014 The global decline of bees, hoverflies and other pollinators pose a serious threat to food security and biodiversity. A team of scientists from Wageningen University, Netherlands, and Do ana Biological Station show in the ... Study shows urban habitats provide haven for UK bees 31 February 11, 2015 Urban environments might not seem the best habitat for pollinators at first glance but a new study, led by the University of Bristol, suggests that bees and other pollinating bugs actually thrive as well in towns and cities ...
Study finds flies are key to pollination 32 March 25, 2015 Flies play an important role as pollinators and should no longer be neglected in pollination studies, according to a new study led by University of Bristol researchers, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Insect's wings key to azalea pollination 33 June 9, 2015 A researcher from North Carolina State University has found that in the case of the flame azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum), all pollinators are not created equal. In fact, due to the flower's unique reproductive structure, ...
Summer fruits depend on pollinators, but where have all the bees gone? 34 July 28, 2015 Blackberries and blueberries. Cherries and peaches. Raspberries and apricots.
These and many other summer fruits require pollination by bees. Parasitized bees are self-medicating in the wild, study finds 35 September 1, 2015 Bumblebees infected with a common intestinal parasite are drawn to flowers whose nectar and pollen have a medicinal effect, a Dartmouth-led study shows. The findings suggest that plant chemistry could help combat the decline ...
Recommended for you Which insects are the best pollinators? 36 September 3, 2015 Bees top the charts for pollination success according to one of the first studies of insect functionality within pollination networks, published today by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of St Andrews. New research shows why cats are more independent than dogs 37 September 3, 2015 Domestic cats do not generally see their owners as a focus of safety and security in the same way that dogs do, according to new research published today. Study reveals how distinctive termite mounds are ventilated, could offer lessons to human architects 38 September 2, 2015 As animal architects go, the average termite doesn't have many tools at their disposal - just their bodies, soil and saliva.
And as guidance, variations in wind speed and direction and daily fluctuations in temperature as ... Animal without synapses feeds by external digestion using global, local cellular control 39 September 2, 2015 A multicellular marine animal without organs, Trichoplax's feeding behavior may include cellular coordination, resulting in external food digestion, according to a study published September 2, 2015 in the open-access journal ... Scientists discover key clues in turtle evolution 40 September 2, 2015 A research team led by NYIT scientist Gaberiel Bever has determined that a 260-million year-old fossil species found in South Africa's Karoo Basin provides a long awaited glimpse into the murky origins of turtles.
Change in environment can lead to rapid evolution, researchers say 41 September 2, 2015 A new Florida State University study is giving researchers a glimpse at how organisms from fish to flowers to tumors evolve in response to rapid environmental change.
0 comments Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more 42 43 Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made. 44 References ^ pollination (phys.org) ^ plant species (phys.org) ^ insect species (phys.org) ^ pollen (phys.org) ^ Robust network of insect pollinators may collapse suddenly, study finds (phys.org) ^ DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1130 (dx.doi.org) ^ Biology (www.physicsforums.com) ^ Robust network of insect pollinators may collapse suddenly, study finds (phys.org) ^ Study shows urban habitats provide haven for UK bees (phys.org) ^ Study finds flies are key to pollination (phys.org) ^ Insect's wings key to azalea pollination (phys.org) ^ Summer fruits depend on pollinators, but where have all the bees gone? (phys.org) ^ Parasitized bees are self-medicating in the wild, study finds (phys.org) ^ Which insects are the best pollinators? (phys.org) ^ New research shows why cats are more independent than dogs (phys.org) ^ Study reveals how distinctive termite mounds are ventilated, could offer lessons to human architects (phys.org) ^ Animal without synapses feeds by external digestion using global, local cellular control (phys.org) ^ Scientists discover key clues in turtle evolution (phys.org) ^ Change in environment can lead to rapid evolution, researchers say (phys.org) ^ sign in (sciencex.com) ^ Read more (sciencex.com) ^ Click here (sciencex.com) ^ pollination (phys.org) ^ plant species (phys.org) ^ insect species (phys.org) ^ pollen (phys.org) ^ Robust network of insect pollinators may collapse suddenly, study finds (phys.org) ^ DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1130 (dx.doi.org) ^ Biology (www.physicsforums.com) ^ Robust network of insect pollinators may collapse suddenly, study finds (phys.org) ^ Study shows urban habitats provide haven for UK bees (phys.org) ^ Study finds flies are key to pollination (phys.org) ^ Insect's wings key to azalea pollination (phys.org) ^ Summer fruits depend on pollinators, but where have all the bees gone? (phys.org) ^ Parasitized bees are self-medicating in the wild, study finds (phys.org) ^ Which insects are the best pollinators? (phys.org) ^ New research shows why cats are more independent than dogs (phys.org) ^ Study reveals how distinctive termite mounds are ventilated, could offer lessons to human architects (phys.org) ^ Animal without synapses feeds by external digestion using global, local cellular control (phys.org) ^ Scientists discover key clues in turtle evolution (phys.org) ^ Change in environment can lead to rapid evolution, researchers say (phys.org) ^ sign in (sciencex.com) ^ Read more (sciencex.com) ^ Click here (sciencex.com)
The post Which insects are the best pollinators? appeared first on News4Security.