Graham Kelsey K, Brown Steve, Clarke Stephanie, Röse Ursula S R, Starks Philip T
Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA 01830, USA.
Behav Processes. 2017 Nov;144:5-12. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.08.005. Epub 2017 Aug 19.
The plant-pollinator relationship is generally considered mutualistic. This relationship is less clear, however, when pollinators also cause tissue damage. Some Megachilidae bees collect plant material for nests from the plants they pollinate. In this study, we examined the relationship between Anthidium manicatum, the European wool-carder bee, and the source of its preferred nesting material - Stachys byzantina, lamb's ear. Female A. manicatum use their mandibles to trim trichomes from plants for nesting material (a behaviour dubbed "carding"). Using volatile organic compound (VOC) headspace analysis and behavioural observations, we explored (a) how carding effects S. byzantina and (b) how A. manicatum may choose specific S. byzantina plants. We found that removal of trichomes leads to a dissimilar VOC bouquet compared to intact leaves, with a significant increase in VOC detection following damage. A. manicatum also visit S. byzantina plants with trichomes removed at a greater frequency compared to plants with trichomes intact. Our data suggest that A. manicatum eavesdrop on VOCs produced by damaged plants, leading to more carding damage for individual plants due to increased detectability by A. manicatum. Accordingly, visitation by A. manicatum to S. byzantina may incur both a benefit (pollination) and cost (tissue damage) to the plant.
植物与传粉者的关系通常被认为是互利共生的。然而，当传粉者也造成组织损伤时，这种关系就不那么清晰了。一些切叶蜂科蜜蜂会从它们授粉的植物上采集筑巢材料。在这项研究中，我们研究了欧洲切叶蜂Anthidium manicatum与其首选筑巢材料来源——绵毛水苏之间的关系。雌性欧洲切叶蜂用它们的上颚从植物上修剪毛状体作为筑巢材料（这种行为被称为“梳理”）。通过挥发性有机化合物（VOC）顶空分析和行为观察，我们探究了（a）梳理行为如何影响绵毛水苏，以及（b）欧洲切叶蜂如何选择特定的绵毛水苏植物。我们发现，与完整叶片相比，去除毛状体后会产生不同的挥发性有机化合物组合，损伤后挥发性有机化合物的检测量显著增加。与毛状体完整的植物相比，欧洲切叶蜂也更频繁地拜访毛状体被去除的绵毛水苏植物。我们的数据表明，欧洲切叶蜂窃听受损植物产生的挥发性有机化合物，由于欧洲切叶蜂对其可检测性增加，导致单个植物受到更多的梳理损伤。因此，欧洲切叶蜂拜访绵毛水苏可能给植物带来益处（授粉）和代价（组织损伤）。
