Mesquita-Neto José Neiva, Schlindwein Clemens
Laboratorio Ecología de Abejas Nativas, Departamento de Biología y Química, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas Universidad Católica del Maule Talca Chile.
Departamento de Botânica, Grupo Plebeia-Ecologia de Abelhas e da Polinização Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Minas Gerais Brazil.
Ecol Evol. 2025 Sep 8;15(9):e72150. doi: 10.1002/ece3.72150. eCollection 2025 Sep.
Buzz pollination has been studied for over a century, yet the drivers shaping plant-pollinator interactions at the community level remain poorly understood. Although previous research has identified key functional traits associated with sonication-foraging behavior and taxonomic relationships among floral visitors, the specific bee traits that promote effective pollination are still unclear. In this study, we investigated which morphological and behavioral characteristics of flower-visiting bees predict pollination success within a plant community containing multiple buzz-pollinated species. Focusing on eight co-occurring, co-flowering plant species with poricidal anthers, we measured stigma contact (as a proxy for pollination efficiency), visitation rates, flower and whole plant handling time, intertegular span (body size), and pollen extraction mode across different bee species. Our results showed that both morphological and behavioral traits can predict pollination success. Specifically, stigma contact was positively associated with larger body size, suggesting that larger bees are more likely to touch the stigma during visits. In contrast, longer flower and plant handling times were linked to a low likelihood of stigma contacts-traits more commonly observed in smaller bees. Bees that used floral sonication visited more flowers and plants per unit time and contacted stigmas approximately four times more frequently than non-sonicating bees. However, detailed aspects of sonication behavior-such as the number and duration of buzzes-were not associated with pollination efficiency. These findings suggest that while bees visiting buzz-pollinated flowers may share similar pollen extraction mechanisms, variation in physical and behavioral traits plays a crucial role in shaping pollination dynamics.
对震动传粉的研究已持续了一个多世纪，但在群落水平上塑造植物-传粉者相互作用的驱动因素仍知之甚少。尽管先前的研究已经确定了与震动觅食行为相关的关键功能特征以及访花者之间的分类关系，但促进有效传粉的具体蜜蜂特征仍不明确。在本研究中，我们调查了访花蜜蜂的哪些形态和行为特征能够预测包含多种震动传粉物种的植物群落内的传粉成功率。聚焦于八种同时出现、同时开花且具孔裂花药的植物物种，我们测量了柱头接触情况（作为传粉效率的指标）、访花率、花朵和整株植物的处理时间、翅基间距（体型大小）以及不同蜜蜂物种的花粉采集方式。我们的结果表明，形态和行为特征都能预测传粉成功率。具体而言，柱头接触与较大的体型呈正相关，这表明较大的蜜蜂在访花时更有可能接触到柱头。相比之下，较长的花朵和植物处理时间与较低的柱头接触可能性相关——这种特征在较小的蜜蜂中更为常见。采用花朵震动传粉的蜜蜂每单位时间访问的花朵和植物更多，接触柱头的频率大约是非震动传粉蜜蜂的四倍。然而，震动行为的详细方面，如震动的次数和持续时间，与传粉效率并无关联。这些发现表明，虽然访问震动传粉花朵的蜜蜂可能共享相似的花粉采集机制，但物理和行为特征的差异在塑造传粉动态方面起着关键作用。
