Comparative studies of pollen and fluorescent dye transport by bumble bees visiting Erythronium grandiflorum |
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Authors: | James D. Thomson Mary V. Price Nickolas M. Waser Donald A. Stratton |
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Affiliation: | (1) Ecology and Evolution Department, State University of New York, 11794 Stony Brook, NY, USA;(2) Department of Biology, University of California, 92521 Riverside, CA, USA;(3) Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, 81224 Crested Butte, CO, USA |
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Abstract: | Summary In the Colorado Rocky Mountains the glacier lily Erythronium grandiflorum exhibits a striking dimorphism in pollen color and is commonly pollinated by the bumble bee Bombus occidentalis. We induced bees to visit sequences of flowers in a flight cage, and compared dispersal of distinctively-colored pollen and fluorescent pigment ( dye ) that the bee had picked up at a single donor flower. Nonparametric and parametric analyses showed that dispersal properties of pollen and dye differed; consistently less pollen was deposited and it was carried consistently shorter distances than dye. Dye thus does not provide an accurate means of assessing exacty where or how far pollen travels in this plant-pollinator system. On the other hand, both pollen and dye responded similarly to several experimental manipulations of donor and recipient flowers. Hence dye may well be of value for a qualitative investigation of how floral traits influence pollen dispersal. |
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